News

A LIFE-SAVING dog who helped its owner escape from a devastating fire has been hailed as a ‘Clare Covid Hero’. Former county councillor and well-known Clarecastle man Bernard Hanrahan narrowly escaped with his life after his home was engulfed in flames late last year. Bernard, known locally as the Bomber, was saved after being alerted to the blaze at his home in Barntick by his beloved dog Daisy’s incessant barking in the early hours of the morning. Daisy has now been named among the winners of the Clare Covid Hero award celebrating the county’s everyday heroes who have been supporting others during the pandemic. Luckily nobody was injured in the fire, however the house, which had been in the family for three generations, was extensively damaged and priceless photographs and memorabilia have been lost. The award certificate was presented to Daisy this week by Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council Mary Howard, who also had a surprise for Bernard. She was …

CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a new bus shelter in Crusheen for south-bound passengers have been scrapped, after considerable local opposition. The village was earmarked for two new shelters after an assessment by the National Transport Authority (NTA). While the existing north-bound bus stop will be upgraded, plans for a new shelter, which would have necessitated moving back the boundary wall of a local housing estate by two metres, will not now proceed. The council’s decision to seek a new site has been met with relief from Deputy Michael McNamara, among others. “Bus shelters are badly needed but the location must be right,” he said. “I welcome the decision not to put the south-bound shelter in at the location originally proposed. For residents in Brodagh View, it would have inevitably resulted in people parking in that estate. That’s not what it was designed for. “When the estate was built, a development contribution was paid to Clare County Council. The council was …

WITH non-essential retailers reopening this week gardaí have urged Clare businesses to be security conscious. According to Clare’s Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Triona Brooks investing a little time and finances into security measures can deter criminals from targeting businesses. Measures introduced by businesses to prevent Covid-19 such as screens could obscure CCTV or alarm sensors, she explains, advising businesses to review their security systems. She said, “As retail premises open up again after Covid-19 restrictions it is even more important to ensure that your premises is secure. “Criminals like easy opportunities. If they have to make a lot of noise, spend a lot of time or risk being seen, the chances are they won’t bother. If they are aware staff are security conscious they will be less likely to attempt a criminal act. “A small investment of time and money can make your business premises more secure and less likely to be targeted by criminals.” She advises that businesses look …

TOO many Covid-19 restrictions are still imposed in University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL) limiting access for partners, the Irish Birth Movement (IBM) has claimed. The Irish Birth Movement staged a protest calling for maternity restrictions to be lifted immediately outside University Maternity Hospital Limerick recently. A group of women, including mothers, midwives, doulas and other birth activists have protested at various locations nationwide in recent weeks. Leigh Brosnan of the IBM said there are still too many restrictions being imposed in UMHL. She said that partners were still not allowed to be present in the early stages of labour in UMH and can’t attend for early scans when bad news is sometimes delivered to a couple. Ms Brosnan said a few weeks ago, a woman who attended the protest had a miscarriage on her own without her partner, which was very distressing for her. Stating more creative solutions must be introduced in UMH to increase access for partners, she referred …

PUPILS from an Ennis school have demonstrated their futures are bright when it comes to identifying and solving health issues in Ireland today. Transition year students of Coláiste Muire Isolde Hegarty, Molly Hennessy, Hannah Clune, Sinéad Ní Dhúlaing and Éabha Warner have received an award at the second BD STEM Stars competition. The local students scooped €5,000 in funding for STEM projects after coming in second runner up place. Their entry proposed an app to support teenagers in managing their mental health. The Vedriti App and Panic Button Technology is a safe space online to support the mental health and well-being of teenagers. The students identified the challenges of the pandemic as putting even greater pressure on mental health and looked at how they could provide teenagers with peer-to-peer support as well as information on where to go for further help. They beat off competition from across Limerick and Clare in showing step-by-step how they firstly identified an issue and …

Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Group B Round 3 Laois v Clare at MW Hire O’Moore Park Portlaoise, Sunday 3pm (Patrick Murphy, Carlow) With Clare being one of only three teams yet to register a point in Division 1 alongside Laois and Westmeath, the relegation trapdoor candidates will become a lot clearer following this Sunday’s showdown in Portlaoise. In reality, Clare should have won their opening two ties and have the potential to also beat their remaining trio of opponents in Laois, Dublin and Kilkenny. However, even in terms of kickstarting their season and rebuilding confidence ahead of the start of the championship in five weeks time, a victory this Sunday is just what the doctor ordered. One thing’s for sure, Brian Lohan and his management team are certainly finding out a lot about their players after two soul searching defeats but there are still plenty of positional and personnel boxes to be ticked on the Banner’s pre-championship checklist. Injuries …

THE number of people accessing the refuge provided by Clare Haven Services during the Covid-19 pandemic was four times higher than the reported incidence of domestic abuse to gardai, The Clare Champion can reveal. Figures released to by Justice Minister Heather Humphreys to Deputy Michael McNamara show the incidence of domestic abuse crime and non-crime incidents that were reported to the Clare Garda Division increased by 5% from 638 in the period April 2019 to March 2020 to 670 between April 2020 to March 2021. Crime incidents include any incident with a recorded motive of “domestic abuse”. Non-crime incidents are of the PULSE incident type “domestic dispute – no offence disclosed”. Clare Haven Services manager, Dr Siobhan O’Connor has confirmed there was a 21% increase in the number of people accessing their refuge from December 2019 to December 2020, which covers a large portion of the Covid-19 pandemic. There was also a similar hike in the number of people using …

IRISH Water has confirmed that it is working with Clare County Council to carry out repairs to two rising main bursts that may result in a wastewater discharge at Kilkee beach. Crews are working to repair the bursts as quickly and as safely as possible in adherence with current HSE and government Covid-19 advice. Tankers are on-site collecting wastewater to minimise any impact and discharges to the stream which leads to the beach. As a result of this incident, Clare County Council, in consultation with the HSE, has placed a bathing prohibition notice at Kilkee beach. It is likely that this notice will remain in place for a number of days pending the repairs of the wastewater and stormwater rising mains and the results of sampling of the bathing waters early next week, at which point the notice may be lifted. Updates will be available from www.beaches.ie. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other relevant stakeholders have been notified and …