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THERE is dissatisfaction in Sixmilebridge, as street lighting close to the Old Station House, which is used by the local scout group has been turned off. Some 170 young people use the facility, while there are 30 adult volunteers there.  In a letter sent to local councillors recently, it was claimed that the lack of lighting makes things dangerous there. “While it was possible to hold these meetings without streetlighting during the brighter months, it is now coming to the point where we are considering suspending weekly meetings.” They claim that children could easily fall in the area. “ Visibility in the grounds of the Scout Hall and on the footpath that is adjacent to it is extremely limited. Children will run and play as is their nature and the light coming from within the Scout Hall is not enough to illuminate the outside areas. Even to walk around the building requires a torch as you simply cannot see the …

CLARE gardaí are urging people planning for the festive season to ‘Buy Safe and Pay Safe’ when it comes to online shopping. In the lead up to Christmas and in particular the Black Friday sales promotion period An Garda Síochána are supporting Europol’s online fraud prevention campaign which encourages safe online shopping by customers. “More and more businesses are using the internet as the primary channel to sell goods and services. Whilst convenient for both the consumer and retailer it also presents opportunities for fraudsters who can use the anonymous nature of the internet to rip off consumers or target retailers who do not have the necessary defences in place to protect themselves,” outlines Clare Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Triona Brooks. There was a total of €22 million in credit and debit cards fraud losses on Irish consumers in 2020, according to the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI). “Consumers and eCommerce merchants will be particularly active online over the …

CLARE GAA Chairman Jack Chaplin has defended the handling of the crowd at last Sunday’s county hurling final, despite calls from a former TD for resignations from the county board. The game had to be delayed by a quarter of an hour due to the volume of people arriving at the gates, but Mr Chaplin said that the crowd had been unexpectedly large and the county board had done everything it could. “We had 21 people manning 16 stiles. We brought in a zig-zag queue to help try and keep some distance between the crowds. There were approximately 4,400 and obviously people were coming late. There were 2,700 online tickets that had to be scanned. “It has been a lockdown year and people haven’t been going to matches. The week before (at the county football final) there was a small crowd, but on the day there was a big crowd. I don’t think there was much more that we could …

IT IS a very busy time for Quin Taekwon-do head coach Stephen Ryan as his Team Ireland members prepare for the European Championships in Spain next week and he reflects on his club’s success at last weekend’s Irish Cup in the University of Limerick (UL) Sports Arena. Six of the club’s black belts will join a 60-strong Irish squad when they travel to La Nucia, Spain, for the long-awaited return to international competition. Experienced competitors Shane Tuite (-70kg senior sparring); James Tuite ( -68kg junior sparring); Alice Larkin (2nd Degree Patterns and –68kg senior sparring) and Luke Moriarty (-70kg senior sparring) will be joined by Aoibhin Copeland (- 55kg junior sparring) and David Larkin (1st Degree Patterns and –50kg junior sparring), who have been selected to the Irish team for the first time. “It’s been great but challenging to be back training for the Euros with this group of athletes,” said Stephen, who is also Head Coach of the Irish …

Challenges of litter, wandering fairy doors and aged signs all taken in stride of community volunteers, says report SHANNON received 320 marks from a possible 470 in this year’s Tidy Towns contest, winning a lot of praise from the judges. The adjudicators report on the town said, “A really sterling effort from Shannon here this year. You’ve shown how well a community can deal with setbacks and not just Covid-19. You take litter, wandering fairy doors and aged signs in your stride. Thanks for all the time and effort. “Not just for your entry but for the massive amount that you are clearly doing for Shannon. Well done.” It said that there has been a lot of support for the Tidy Towns effort locally. “We are very impressed with the level of commitment we are seeing from Shannon. It’s clear that you are providing a very worthwhile volunteering experience for many of your residents. You are well supported by a …

CLARE’S libraries are to introduce a twice weekly ‘accessible hour’ from next month. The slots on Tuesdays and Thursdays will be from 11.30am to 12.30pm with Helen Walsh, County Librarian, explaining, “These times have been chosen as they are quieter times for library usage. “During this time children/adults with additional individual needs are encouraged to visit the library to avail of library services.” Details of the new service were unveiled at the monthly meeting of Clare County Council where Councillor Ian Lynch requested that banded times be allocated in the library for users with additional sensory and communication needs. He said this would be in keeping “with the council’s excellent work providing inclusive services for all”. As well as outlining details of the new ‘accessible hour’ Ms Walsh added in her reply that parents with children on the autism spectrum and those children who require introductory information on what a visit to the library consists can view social stories on …

MEMBERS of Doolin Coast Guard have been invited to participate in a process with well respected national mediator Kieran Mulvey in a bid to resolve difficulties that have arisen in the unit, writes Dan Danaher. Six members of the Doolin Coast Guard unit including the officer in charge resigned unexpectedly on November 1, which resulted in the Department of Transport standing down the unit. The remaining 12 volunteers are not allowed to respond to search, rescue or recovery operations. Mr Mulvey is willing to meet separately with the parties in Doolin Coast Guard station house next Monday, November 22, from 6 to 8pm. If necessary, he will have meetings the following day to continue the mediation process. The Clare Champion has obtained a letter sent by the Maritime Strategy and Governance Division on behalf of Irish Coast Guard. The letter outlined that junior minister at the Department of Transport Hildegarde Naughton has decided, in response to the recent events in …

THERE are still 1,735 people receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment in Clare, with latest figures also showing that 3,783 people were signing on the live register in October. The number receiving the PUP fell by almost 400 between October 19 and November 2, while it is way down from its peak in 2020 of almost 15,000. On the live register side, the October figure increased by 73 on September. The majority of people signing on in Clare (1,929) were attached to the Ennis Social Welfare office. The figure for Kilrush was 657, for Ennistymon it was 643, and for Tulla it was 554. Of those signing on in Clare, 2,031 were male and 1,752 were female. Despite more than 5,500 people getting unemployment supports, there are also labour shortages in a number of sectors. Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council PJ Ryan, a businessman himself, said that workers are in short supply. “Definitely there’s a major problem for businesses trying to …