News

DESPITE the obvious difficulties Damian O’Rourke has made great efforts over the last few years to develop local live music, and to give young people in Shannon an outlet, writes Owen Ryan. Last weekend he was involved with Busker’s Way, an initiative to play live music in the Town Centre, as festive shoppers made their purchases. “It’s something that we had going before Covid, but that kind of stopped it. When there was a bit of a break in that we got it going, but it stopped again,” said Damian, when he spoke to the Champion last Friday afternoon. “I spoke to the manager Brian, he wanted to do something coming up to Christmas so we got a few buskers for last Friday and Saturday.” At that time he was also preparing for a young people’s event to be held in the Town Centre on Wednesday, December 22. “We’ll have seven young musicians in one of the units in the …

Irish Covid-19 testing company, RocDoc, has announced the opening of a new new mass testing facility in Shannon Business Park. The new centre is one of three being opened by RocDoc this week along with centres in Cork and Swords in Dublin. The announcement also sees the creation of 120 jobs spread across the three locations. The new mass testing facility in Shannon will provide additional capacity to meet the demands of the busy Christmas season and the additional testing requirements for international travel due to the Omicron variant. RocDoc currently operates a drive-thru testing centre at Shannon Airport, two testing facilities at Dublin Airport and one at Cork Airport. All three new facilities will be walk-in only. Commenting on the announcement, RocDoc Chief Executive, David Rock, said; ‘’We’re very happy to be able to announce that our new mass testing facility in Shannon opens to the public today, providing additional capacity at this critical time. “A lot of hard …

SIGNS are positive for north Clare after the latest initiative aimed at developing sustainable tourism in the area. Failte Ireland recently unveiled the first viewing points along the Burren Discovery Trail, a new looped route off the Wild Atlantic Way. The trail is one of the projects that has emerged from the Visitor Experience Development Plan for the Burren and Cliffs of Moher, published earlier this year, that is designed to encourage visitors to explore more and stay longer in the Burren. Developed with an investment of €340,000 from Fáilte Ireland, the 95km Burren Discovery Trail takes visitors through the Burren Highlands in Clare and Lowlands in Galway encouraging them to engage with the stories of each local area and explore the many wonderful towns and villages in the region. Miriam Kennedy, Head of the Wild Atlantic Way at Fáilte Ireland, said, “The Burren is famous for its stunning karst natural landscape but it is also a living environment with …

PLANS for the development of a pet crematorium in Ennis, which has the support of local vets, have been put on hold after an appeal to An Bord Pleanala. The appeal against the proposed development at an existing vacant unit at the Ennis Enterprise Centre in the Gort Road Industrial Estate has been lodged by a resident of County Meath, Don Weldon. The development of the pet crematorium is proposed by Aimee and Danny Keller in response to what has been described as “a lack of this service” within the county and surroundings. The nearest such facility is in Kerry, with the developers stating that the associated delay following the loss of a pet “can be very distressing” for owners. Planning permission was granted to the Kellers by Clare County Council in September subject to eight conditions. The local authority stated, “the proposed development would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity and …

A CIRCUIT court judge conducted court proceedings in the fresh air on the steps of a courthouse after hearing two accused men in a case were exhibiting Covid-19 symptoms, writes Gordon Deegan. At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Brian O’Callaghan transferred court proceedings from his courtroom to the steps of Ennis courthouse and its car park due to what he called “the Covid-19 circumstances in the case”. Shortly after 12.30pm this Monday afternoon, Judge O’Callaghan convened the court from the top of the courthouse steps for the arraignment of five men charged in respect of a violent disturbance at a charity kick-boxing event at a Shannon hotel three years ago. Video footage of the brawl at the Saturday night event was posted on social media soon after. At the bottom of the steps standing in the courthouse car park, five McDonagh men – all wearing masks – each replied ‘guilty’ when arraigned by the court registrar for the offences. At the …

A FORMER St Flannan’s College student has been awarded a prestigious €20,000 scholarship to support his continuing studies. Jack Browne, who is now studying Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of Limerick, has been named as a winner of the Naughton Foundation Scholarship Awards. Reacting to the award, Jack told The Champion, “I am delighted to receive this amazing opportunity from the Naughton family. I am also so grateful for the support, interest and encouragement of my family and my teachers, in both Inch National school and St Flannan’s College, especially the outstanding science department in St Flannan’s.” This isn’t the only time that Jack’s out of this world talents have been acknowledged. He was a member of the St Flannan’s College Design team which won a major international prize in the NASA Ames Space settlement Design Competition in 2019. St Flannan’s teacher John Conneely said, “The staff and students at St Flannan’s College have sent their congratulations this …

GARDAÍ are investigating a number of burglaries throughout County Clare in recent days, writes Jessica Quinn. On December 14 at 5.55pm in Abbeyville, Ennis an intruder gained entry to the house via patio door. The intruder was disturbed by the house’s resident and then fled the area. The following day between 5.45pm and 8pm in Corrovorrin, Ennis the glass at the back of a house was smashed and entry gained. In a separate incident on December 15 at Fort View, Creaggaunahilla, Clarecastle between 12pm and 7.30 pm the glass at the back of a house was smashed and entry gained. Anyone with any information on any of these burglaries is asked to contact Ennis Gardaí at 065 6848100. In Killaloe, gardaí are appealing to anybody with information on a 181 WX black VW Golf which is believed to have been involved in a burglary at a business premises on December 16. The burglary took place at 3.35am and anyone with …

WITH an opinion poll last week showing Sinn Féin at 35%, way ahead of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael who are both on 20%, it is clear that the party are still increasing their popularity, following their success in last year’s general election. When Violet Anne Wynne took a seat in Clare in early 2020 it was a huge shock, but really only reflected the national picture, where the party were picking up numerous seats that had looked beyond them. The party has one seat on Clare County Council, now held by Donna McGettigan who was co-opted to replace the late Mike McKee, and she said she was pleased with the direction the party is going in. “These polls are very, very encouraging and it shows we are doing the right things. We’re actually out on the ground, we don’t just call at election time, we are working very hard and we’re getting to the issues that mean something to …