News

50 households have exited homeless services since the introduction of the Homeless Action Team, a meeting of Clare County Council has revealed. Latest figures have highlighted that as of August 21, 2020 there were 62 new homeless presentations in the county, and 339 repeat presentations. Details were outlined following a query by Councillor Donna McGettigan seeking “the true figures” for the homeless situation in Clare by area. She stated that she has been contacted by people are living on couches, asking what is the council’s plan to “end homelessness”. Anne Haugh, director of social development detailed it is not possible to breakdown the homeless list by area. The figures showed 15 homeless families receiving emergency accommodation as at August 21. There were 60 adults and 21 dependants. She outlined that the Homeless Action Team was introduced on February 1, 2019. From that date until December 31, 2019 a total of 26 households, made up of 33 adults and 36 dependants …

A DEEP crisis facing the tourism sector in Clare was acknowledged as a new plan was approved by councillors this week to guide the industry for the next decade. The role of tourism as the county’s largest indigenous employer was highlighted, with hopes expressed by some members that the authority might play a role in securing a national cultural centre for Clare. Outlining the impact of Covid-19 on tourism at the monthly meeting of Clare County Council, Director of Service Leonard Cleary noted that the new plan had had to take account of the pandemic. Head of Tourism Deirdre O’Shea agreed that against that backdrop, the strategy was vital. “The local tourism economy is in deep crisis,” she said. “Having a strategy is more important than ever for the next ten years.” Ms O’Shea outlined the risk to the 12,000 jobs dependent on tourism, as well as to the €266 million generated annually by the sector. “The strategy is still …

FURTHER restoration work has been undertaken in recent days at what is believed to be the oldest church in use in the Diocese of Killaloe. A replica of the historical altar, which was removed from the St Vincent de Paul Barn Church in Oatfield, in the 1960s, has made by local man Donal Ryan. The beautifully crafted piece was this week installed and blessed by Bishop Fintan Monahan. Donal’s daughter is to get married later this month at the church and in advance of the ceremony, he approached the Pastoral Council with a view to installing the altar. “It was a conincidence that we happened to draw down a grant that enabled us to the preparatory work, just at the right time,” said Michael Tynan, Pastoral Council representative and Oatfield church project co-ordinator. “Donal has great skill and we are delighted now to have the altar in place. The restoration of the church has involved an amazing community effort and …

THE first Clare Champion of the month of October 1920 contains fascinating reports of the Rineeen ambush and the actions of the State forces in the aftermath, as they caused devastation in the local area. A lengthy report opens stating that, “A special representative of The Clare Champion visited Ennistymon and Lahinch on Saturday to ascertain as far as possible the nature and extent of the reprisals carried out there, following the tragic and fatal attack on the police on Black Hill, in which six policemen were shot dead.” Describing the recent events as a “painful chapter in history”, it dealt with the ambush first. “All the police in the wagon were shot dead,and the body of one policeman was, it is stated riddled with bullets.” While it said that obtaining all the correct information about the reprisals was not easy, “what is known is quite sufficient to bring home to all concerned the terrible realities of the present situation …

BUS Eireann has been accused of selecting a “dangerous junction” for a new collection point on the Loop Head Peninsula that leaves two local secondary school students without a home collection. Philippa Doherty has claimed there is no safe place to park her car at Crotty’s Cross as she waits for her son to be dropped off from a school bus coming from Kilkee Community College. Crotty’s Cross is a small crossroads and the last junction before Loophead lighthouse on the Wild Atlantic Way, which attracts heavy tourist traffic. “There is nowhere to pull in safely, one way is blind so you cannot see oncoming traffic and the bus should not be turning at this junction for safety reasons. The safest way for the bus is to continue down the L2000 from Crotty’s Cross down Fodera and back to Kilbaha village so the bus would not have to turn around at any point,” she explained. She is being supported by …

GARDAÍ are advising car owners to be vigilant following a spate of thefts of catalytic convertors in the county. The latest theft occurred in Clarecastle last week. In the early hours of Wednesday morning last at around 3pm the owner of a car on Patrick Street, Clarecastle discovered the catalytic converter had been cut away from his car. Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Triona Brooks explains that the car owner had thought he had heard the sound of a grinder outside his home before making the unfortunate discovery. Sgt Brooks outlined that there were two similar incidents last week in East Clare, and it can cost the owner up to €2,500 to replace the catalytic converter. “It can take as little as three minutes for a thief to remove it which are being stolen because of the increasing prices in the scrap metal market, platinum, rhodium, palladium and other precious metals they employ to clean exhaust emissions, getting €100 to €300 …

A CLARE-based psychologist has said she has been inundated with concerns from parents over their children’s online activities during the months while the schools were closed. Dr Maureen Griffin is an online safety expert who provides psychological services in the areas of online offending and safety. She also works, at a preventative level, with schools, students and parents. The forensic psychologist has reiterated calls for social media companies to do more to enforce age controls. Dr Griffin also described the availability to children of dangerous content on apps like TikTok as “deeply concerning” and warned we are in danger of creating “a guinea pig generation” in terms of potential online harm. Last week, research from Cyber Safe Ireland showed that, over the last year, 61% of children had been contacted by strangers through online games. TikTok was found to be the most popular app. Despite the fact that it has a minimum age requirement of 13 – three years below …

A DECISION on whether or not to grant Part 8 planning permission for the development of social housing units in Ennis has been deferred by councillors. At the monthly meeting of Clare County Council, a deferral on the vote was sought by Councillor Paul Murphy on behalf of the seven members of the Ennis Municipal District. He asked that a month be given to address residents’ concerns about issues including overlooking and the removal of existing trees. The request was seconded by Councillor Mark Nestor, who said that would give time for the authority to meet residents of nearby Elm Wood, some of whom attended the council meeting on Monday. Councillor Johnny Flynn added his voice to the deferral request, suggesting that a period of two months might be needed. Contributions were made by a number of other Ennis members with Councillor Colleran Molloy asserting that residents were reasonable and had no objection to social housing. “We need to go …