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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 …

Budget airline’s CEO has harsh words for government over aviation recovery policy RYANAIR launched eight new Shannon routes last Thursday morning and said it will carry more passengers to and from the airport over the next year than it did in 2019, before Covid struck. The airline’s CEO Eddie Wilson praised Shannon Airport’s management for being proactive in securing new services, and estimated around one million people will fly with Ryanair to and from Shannon in the next 12 months, up by around 25% on the 2019 figure. It announced six new services for the winter 2021 season, to London-Luton, Budapest, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Fuerteventura and Turin. New services already in place for the summer include Corfu and Gran Canaria. While there has been some criticism of Shannon’s separation from the other State airports in recent times, Mr Wilson said the deal wouldn’t have been possible had it still been part of the DAA group, with Dublin and Cork. “You have …

Average rent sought in Clare in Q2 climbs to €1,009 THE average price sought for a rental property in Clare now exceeds €1,000, as the market continues to get hotter and hotter. According to the latest Daft.ie report, the average rent sought in Clare in the second quarter of the year was €1,009. This was up by nearly 4% on the first quarter of the year, and by almost 15% compared to the same time last year. The change from the low point of the market has been quite dramatic, with a rise of 91.6% seen in Clare. Clearly supply is at a premium in the Banner at the moment, with just 20 properties available for rent on daft.ie on Monday. Of these, nine came with monthly rents of €1,000 or more.  Ten of the properties only had two bedrooms, indicating a tiny amount of suitable options for families. At the moment research from Daft.ie suggests that it is now …

Partners were permitted to accompany pregnant Clare women for their 12-week scan in University Maternity Hospital Limerick on Friday afternoon. The gradual easing of partner restrictions follows new guidance issued by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre on August 5th in respect of the 12-week scan and c-section. University Maternity Hospital Limerick already facilitates partner access for elective and emergency sections. In a statement issued to the Clare Champion,  the UL Hospitals’ Group confirmed patients with scheduled appointments over the next three weeks will be contacted by phone and offered the opportunity to attend a separate dating scan appointment with one accompanying person. For new appointments going forward a GP letter will be assessed, the patient will be offered two appointments, a dating scan appointment and an antenatal clinic appointment with an explanation of the difference in both appointments, and clearly stating which appointment their accompanying person can attend. As is current practice a member of the midwifery team working from …

PROCEEDS of an art exhibition by a Lough Derg artist, which opens next Sunday, will be donated to a cancer charity. “Flora and Fauna” by Tipperary visual artist Trish Taylor Thompson will be showcased in the Art D’ Gallery, Ballyfinn House, Borrisokane on Sunday, August 8 from 2 to 5pm, and runs until Sunday August 22. This is the former Lyric Fm’s first exhibition since the Covid-19 pandemic featuring work such as limited edition prints of “Covid Bee Hug” oil on canvas created during the lockdowns. The Killaloe Music Festival chairperson has decided to donate 10% of the net profit from this exhibition to Breast Cancer Ireland. Originally from Dublin and now living in Loughtea overlooking Lough Derg, Ms Taylor-Thompson paints in oils, acrylics and glass inks creating unique images that exude life, energy and colour. Whether depicting the delicacy of the cherry blossom or the elusive bloom of the cannonball tree, her flower paintings radiate a world of beautifully …

Clare patient had to have dialysis on trolley ENNIS kidney patient, Dermot Hayes, who spent 22 hours on a trolley, has claimed regular overcrowding in University Hospital Limerick’s “war zone” is increasing the risk of Covid-19 spreading from asymptomatic patients on trolleys to other patients. His claim comes in a week when a national heath watchdog warned this persistent overcrowding contributes to the difficulty in managing healthcare associated infections, and has been previously highlighted as a problem by the authority through prior monitoring work. Following an unannounced inspection of UHL on October 29, 2020, the Health Information and Equality Authority (HIQA) stated: “Overcrowding in hospitals has been shown to increase the risk of spreading infection and is of particular concern in the context of possible future additional demands posed by the pandemic at the hospital over the coming winter months.” The number of patients on trolleys in UHL increased from 36 on Thursday to 44 on Tuesday, according to figures …

A BOOKER Prize winner will be among the literary stars appearing at the Ennis Book Club Festival next month. The festival will have a day of events, live and in person, on Saturday, September 11, including an appearance by Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart, author of the acclaimed Shuggie Bain. It will feature a mix of major international, national and local authors. The day will kick off with the Beyond Borders Book Club at Ennis Museum from 11.30am with guests from Mexico and Africa, hosted by Irish poet Sarah Clancy. The launch of the Salmon Poetry Memory Book by Jessie Lendennie will take place in the afternoon, at Ennis Bookshop. Jessie Lendennie is celebrating 40 years of publishing with this publication, specially commissioned by Ennis Book Club Festival. Little John Nee will perform music and storytelling on O’Connell Square, entertaining passers-by with his original songs and writings, and creating fun, colour and a festival atmosphere. Canadian author Patrick DeWitt, acclaimed …

BACK-TO-BACK champions Sixmilebridge are first into the breach on Friday evening as they look to take their perfect championship record to 11 matches when taking on old foes Clarecastle in Cusack Park, writes Eoin Brennan. The glamour of that traditional firecracker has long since extinguished as Sixmilebridge are now aiming for a three-in-a-row of Canon Hamilton titles while the Magpies would be content to avoid any relegation danger in a year where two teams drop to intermediate. The absence of Seadna Morey and Cathal Malone are significant but Clarecastle have their own injury woes and are more likely to need a full complement. The more intriguing tie in Group 2 is the clash of Wolfe Tones and Scariff as whoever wins will have one foot out of the relegation zone and into a potential quarter-final spot. The Tones will require a full AA battery charge from the Arons/Aarons while intermediate champions Scariff won’t hold any fear in their bid to …