News

A DO Not Consume notice impacting around 7,500 recipients on the Shannon/Sixmilebridge Public Water Supply was finally lifted on Tuesday. It had been issued due to elevated levels of manganese in the water supply. Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council PJ Ryan said it is unlikely the problem will arise again. “They tell me that it won’t ever happen again now, because they have invested in a new filtration system which should eliminate it. The last time we had the problem in 1995, a year everyone will remember, and that’s 26 years ago now.” He said that the Council had provided water to the public, but there was still a lot of disruption. “In fairness to the Council they provided a good supply of water to the area, but people weren’t able to wash clothes and things like that.” Communication needs to be better whenever future issues arise, he added, “People were very nervous, people with young children and expectant mothers. …

ATTENDANCES at the Emergency Department (ED) at the region’s main hospital continue to hit record levels last seen before the pandemic. In a statement, the University of Limerick Hospitals Group (ULHG) confirmed that well in excess of 200 patients have been presenting every 24 hours at the ED in Dooradoyle. It has again asked members of the public to “consider all care options” before attending. In the 24-hour period to 8am on Wednesday (August 18), 229 patients attended the ED. A total of 241 attended the ED in the previous 24-hour period. “This continues a pattern of high attendances to ED around the country which has been sustained over a number of weeks and current activity levels remain far in excess of the 195 average attendances at our ED recorded in 2019, the last full year pre-pandemic,” a statement said. The hospital has also seen an increase in the number of Covid-positive patients being treated. As of Wednesday, there were …

HEART-FELT tributes have been paid to the late Feakle singer and poet Dun Purcell who passed away in his 99th year on Saturday (August 14). Dun, who was a native of Bauregegaun, was a much-loved character with a wide circle of relatives, friends and admirers of his talent, wit and care for his community. Having battled Covid-19, which he recovered from earlier of this year, Dun demonstrated huge spirit – one that had already seen him overcome the threats of TB and Scarlet Fever in his youth in East Clare. His contribution to life in Feakle and the wider community have been very fondly remembered in recent days. A renowned singer, Dun handed the musical tradition down to his family, with his daughter Kate an accomplished folk singer and guitarist. He was a popular participant at musical gatherings of all kinds in the area. Dun was a life-long volunteer in a host of ways in his local community and was …

WHILE the COVID-19 pandemic has brought huge disruption to education over the past 17 months, there was some good news for four Clare women continuing their learning journey. The quartet have been accepted onto the BA in Applied Early Childhood Education and Care QQI Level 7 course at Carlow Institute of Technology after completing a QQI Level 6 course offered at the Further Education and Training Centre, Shannon Town Campus. The four learners progressing to Level 7 at Carlow Institute of Technology include Barbara Kelly, Sarah McMahon, Amanda Kelly and Lisa O’Dwyer. Sarah who is from Meelick and a mother to four adult children began her learner journey nearly 20 years ago. Her youngest child was just three months old when she took part in a Youthreach programme in Ennis followed by a Level 5 in Childcare. “I was a stay at home mum for many years with one child who has special needs so it was a very busy …

Sometimes, finding the best in you takes a bit of exploration. Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board offers hundreds of full-time and part-time Further Education and Training learning pathways at over 300 locations in Limerick and Clare. Further Education and Training helps you get real skills for employment. We deliver courses to over 25,000 learners in Limerick and Clare every year. These learning pathways are for you if you want to enhance your opportunity for employment, up-skill while in employment, help you progress to further studies or develop a new skill. From Apprenticeship and Traineeship to full and part-time FET courses, your pathway to employment, career progression, and life-skills begins with us. Our range of full-time courses includes Post-Leaving Certificate (PLC), Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS), Hospitality Education and Training, Specific Skills Training, and Youth Education and Training. Our part-time delivery includes Core Skills (language, literacy, numeracy and digital literacy), Vocational and Employee Skills Development, and Outdoor Education and …

THE Food Safety Authority of Ireland served a closure order on the kitchen area of the Burren Atlantic Hotel in Ballyvaughan, after a number of issues were found there. Contraventions of food safety were discovered at the hotel which, according to the FSAI, “could result in a serious risk to contamination of foodstuffs giving rise to a grave and immediate danger to public health”. A letter sent to the company from the FSAI stated, “Foodstuffs likely to support the reproduction of pathogenic micro-organisms were recorded at temperatures that might result in a risk to public health.” It also said that small flying insects had been noted in flour drums. The letter sent on July 23 claimed there had been a “failure to maintain the premises in a clean and hygienic condition”. It listed a number of issues, claiming that surface areas had been covered in food scraps and debris, which had also been noted on the floors. Internal fridges had …

We speak to four Clare people about their environmental activism Mélina Sharp Futureproof Clare and Extinction Rebellion I became environmentally active after attending an Extinction Rebellion (XR) information session in Kilrush about three years ago. It was a wake-up call, I felt shock and horror at the threat to humanity from climate breakdown. I feel that everything is connected and has an impact on communities and ecosystems but my main focus now is on stopping fracking. So-called “natural” gas was hailed as a clean transition fuel but the emissions from production and shipping are being overlooked. Taking everything into account, importing fracked gas is almost 50% worse than coal from a climate perspective. Methane is about 87 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Levels in the US alone have risen by a third in the last 10 years due to fracking. I work with international groups and hear first-hand stories of the …

The EU plans to reduce carbon emissions by 55% by 2030. Bridget Ginnity explains the importance of this plan and highlights simple steps we can all make to play our part in achieving this goal. THE recent launch by the EU of the “Fit for 55” package sounds like an attempt to get us off the couch and touch our toes by the time we’re all 55. Instead, it’s is a plan to reduce EU carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 – and for Ireland that’s a massive 60% reduction on current emissions. The need for reductions has been shown in stark terms this year with the deaths from extreme flooding, heatwaves and forest fires around the globe. This EU plan gives grounds for hope because if governments take control of actions now, we can reap the potential benefits of these actions. Action now avoids unleashing the chaos that is likely to crash down on us if …