News

RESIDENTS in South-East Clare have no flood insurance for their home for the last five years after it was cancelled by an insurance company. In an interview with the Clare Champion, Geraldine Quinlivan recalled in March 2016 their insurance company sent them their renewal notice with a highlighted pen, confirming they were no longer covering them for flood risk for their dwelling in Springfield, Clonlara. She also confirmed the company didn’t telephone them to discuss this issue before their flood insurance was cancelled. The company still provides general house insurance. “It is an added strain because you no longer have a safety net of thinking if the house gets damaged I will be able to repair it when you see flood water approaching your house.” She pointed out flood-hit residents in other areas had requested insurance companies to reinstate flood cover following the provision of protection works. “Flooding has a devastating impact on all of the community. People are affected …

REMOTE working for those living in the county town has taken a major step forward with the opening of the Ennis Digital Hub. The state-of-the-art facility at the Quin Road Business Park was officially opened by Minister Heather Humphries at the end of last month and brings to ten the number of hubs operating under Clare County Council’s Digiclare initiative. Among those welcoming the centre was Councillor Johnny Flynn who said the hub was a long-time goal for the county town. “Six years ago, I tabled a notice of motion requesting a feasibility study be carried out on the development of a hub for Ennis,” he outlined. “I believe the facility will be critical in enabling people living in the area to enable employment. The Ennis hub is the tenth in the county, so the people of the county town have been waiting patiently as the rural centres were developed first. The potential of the hub is huge in enabling …

AUTISM-friendly facilities are in full swing in part of the upgraded Clarecastle Playground, which cost in the region of €16,000. This completion of this upgraded facility illustrates what can be achieved when community groups work in collaboration with each other to maximise benefits for the locality. In 2015, the heart of Clarecastle village was transformed by the development of this playground adjacent to Powers’ Car Park, but in the last six years wear and tear was beginning to take its toll. Councillor Paul Murphy recalled last year he was approached by the Clarecastle Playground Committee who sought funding for additional works to the playground. The Deputy Mayor of Ennis was delighted to assist them through finance provided by the General Municipal Allocation from Clare County Council, which was unanimously supported by his colleagues in the Ennis Municipal District. “When it was developed initially the equipment included a wheelchair swing. The playground committee had a vision to make the playground more …

THE number of people receiving the pandemic payment in Clare dipped to 3,537 by Tuesday, down by 115 on the previous week. Meanwhile figures from the Central Statistics Office show that there were another 4,228 people on the live register in the county in July, an increase of 23 on the June figure. Of the 4,228, the majority, 2,240 were attached to the Ennis Social Welfare Office. There were 706 attached to Kilrush, 652 to Ennistymon and 630 to Tulla. The top three rates of the PUP will reduce each week from September 14, with the maximum weekly rate of €350 going to €300, the current €300 rate going to €250 and the €250 rate going to €203 per week. People on the €203 PUP rate will transition to standard jobseekers terms. Two further phases of rate changes are scheduled to take place from November 16 and February 8, 2022.

THE founder of the Clare Pyrite Action Group has described as “farcical” a response from the Department of Housing on the timeframe for a decision on the possible extension of the existing redress scheme to this county. Dr Martin Cleary questioned why there has been no indication to-date of when Minister Darragh O’Brien will issue a response to a report, submitted by the local authority on July 27, containing detailed evidence of the presence of pyrite here and making the case for extension of the Defective Concrete Blocks scheme to Clare. Dr Cleary’s comments follow a statement to The Champion which outlines that the report, commissioned by the Department, “will be examined thoroughly by the Department and a submission will be made to the Minister as soon as possible thereafter”. “It’s quite amazing that back in 2012 Darragh O’Brien was in the Dáil calling for urgent support for his own constituents who were affected by pyrite,” she said. “Now, here …

LAST weekend saw panic buying of bottled water in Shannon, as people in the surrounding areas were concerned after word of elevated levels of manganese in local supplies came from Irish Water. The areas affected have since been clarified and tankered water is now being provided in Cratloe, Sixmilebridge, Kilmurry, Kilkishen and Quin, for those affected. At the time of writing it was thought unlikely that the problem will be rectified until late next week at the earliest. Councillor Pat O’Gorman said that there had been a lot of confusion initially. “The information was very slow coming out, it should have been on local media rather than us scrambling to get it out to the general public on Saturday morning.” It was only on Tuesday that a full list of the affected areas became available, and he said people had been unsure of what to do. “There was an awful lot of confusion. You’re talking about a tight knit area, …

RESIDENTS of a historic part of Ennis have pledged to fight a proposed new housing development “tooth and nail”. At an on-site briefing over the ‘Buttermarket Development’, a number of residents told Mayor of Ennis, Ann Norton of their concerns about the plan. If granted permission, it would see a total of 46 homes, a café and a digital hub built on a site that fronts onto Drumbiggle road, Buttermarket Street and Simm’s Lane. The briefing took place on Tuesday evening and was also attended for a time by Councillor Mark Nestor. It heard from a number of residents who have submitted detailed objections to Clare County Council, as well as a petition with 130 signatures. Residents recalled how Áras Uí Cochlainn, a block of apartments in the area, had been the scene of some anti-social behaviour, before eventually being demolished around two decades ago. They also pointed out that site in question has been the subject of intense interest …

Owen Ryan talks to Cratloe native and YouTube star Michael Ramsay who has gone from doing vox pops on the streets of Ennis to posing for selfies with fans at St James Park in Newcastle. HIGH energy, humourous and irreverent, Michael Ramsay’s monologues on soccer run up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube every week. The 29-year-old Cratloe man goes by the name of the Irish Guy on YouTube, and is the sole contributor to the HITC Sport channel, still being one of its employees despite developing a huge audience for himself, his brand of football humour clearly striking a chord with audiences. Nearly ten years ago while a college student, Michael spent a number of months doing a journalism internship in the Clare Champion, and is surely the only person to have gone from proof reading parish notes to making videos that are viewed all over the world. The videos are all light hearted, as he pokes fun …