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POLITICAL answers are being sought on behalf of a number of Clare homeowners whose properties are affected by what they believe to be defective building materials like pyrite and mica. The plight of Geraldine Kennedy of Parteen, which was highlighted in last week’s Clare Champion, prompted a visit from Deputy Cathal Crowe, who said he had been able to put his fingers into the cracks in the wall because they were so wide. Deputy Crowe has since tabled two questions to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, on behalf of Geraldine and several other homeowners. “There are as many as 42 confirmed cases in Clare,” he said, “and many more suspected cases. My first question for the minister is to explain the options available to homeowners here. The existing schemes are very county-specific. We will need the buy in of Clare County Council on this, but I don’t foresee a major difficulty in that respect.” Deputy Crowe said …

As part of the East Clare Memorial Committee’s Scariff Martyrs 100 Programme, Historian Dr Tomás Mac Conmara, reflects on a major IRA attack that took place in Scariff 100 years ago this week. FROM all surrounding parishes, on Saturday evening, September 18, 1920, groups of armed young men moved closer to the town of Scariff. Within the town, IRA Volunteers, including Alphie Rodgers, Martin Gildea and Michael ‘Brud’ McMahon, who had been central to the planned action, waited, impatiently. By mid-September, the republican leadership in east Clare had decided to move on the heavily fortified RIC barracks in Scariff. Their aims were two fold. Firstly, as part of IRA strategy nationally, the police were to be driven from rural areas in order for the IRA to establish areas of control and stronger bases from where they could build their campaign. Secondly and for the local IRA, perhaps as important, was the aim of capturing any intelligence and ammunition they could …

THE significant contribution to Irish culture by the founder of the GAA will be celebrated next Sunday, with the inaugural Michael Cusack Day in Carron. A Shane Gilmore sculpture representing the central role of gaelic games in communities across the island of Ireland will be unveiled, exactly 173 years on from Cusack’s birth in Carron. A tree for each county will also be unveiled, along the Burren Fairy Trail and GAA Trail near the Michael Cusack Cottage, thanks to the support of the TOMAR Trust. Sunday’s event also will feature the launch of Going WeLL, a national wellness experience programme being developed nationally by the GAA to encourage people to take better care of their mental and physical health, and by so doing, to reconnect with their communities. Going WeLL is being rolled out on a pilot outreach basis to a range of communities, schools and FET (Further Education and Training) Centres from the Michael Cusack Centre this winter. It …

INTERNATIONAL tributes have been paid following the passing of the acclaimed Bellharbour concerntina player, Chris Droney, who passed away on September 9, at the age of 95. Broadcaster, teacher and musician Kieran Hanrahan, who spoke at Chris’s funeral on Saturday last, said, “He was a chieftain in Clare. Some called him a druid and leader.” The Ennis man credited Chris Droney with inspiring a blossoming of traditional music in the county town and across Clare. “When Chris would come to Ennis for the Fleadhs, he was really what I would call a mega figure,” Mr Hanrahan said. “He was a national figure in the ‘60s and ‘70s and yet he was still so accessible. He always had a word of encouragement, especially for the youth of Ennis in those days. He took a delight in young people playing music. He was always so lovely and so decent. As a person, he was unassuming and an absolutely gorgeous character.” In one …

PRESSURE will increase on already stretched GP-services as a flu vaccination scheme is extended from the middle of next month. While the move to offer free vaccination to children aged between two and 12 has been welcomed in a bid to avoid a second wave of Covid-19 coinciding with an upsurge in flu, concerns have been voiced about the knock-on impact on other services. “If, as we expect, over half a million children are to get flu vaccinations from mid-October, that will mean that hundreds of thousands of appointments will be taken up,” she noted. “Children will have to be Covid-screened before vaccination and monitored afterwards. There is no way that this won’t have a knock-on effect. People will have to wait long for other services and we’d ask them to remember that this for the common good. Children rarely get very sick with flu and this measure is part of a plan to protect older and more vulnerable people …

ON Friday Clare’s cultural community will come together online to celebrate a re-imagined Culture Night. This year’s Culture Night will see a myriad of cultural events held virtually across Clare throughout the evening from 4pm. The programme, which is organised by the Clare Arts Office and funded by Clare County Council and The Arts Council, is packed with more than 25 free online events from across the county from Ennis to Doolin, Kilfenora to Mountshannon, Kilrush to Ennistymon, with an input from New York. Artist Ana Colomer and storyteller Niall de Búrca have come together to produce an animated tale. Award-winning film, The Story of Johnny McGory, produced by Stray Dog Films, makes its online premiere. Theatrical company, Ballycartoon Productions, screens a segment of its new play by Dermott Petty. Clare Céilí Band have recorded traditional music sets made famous by the great Clare bands of the past. Aindrias de Staic tells of the stories and scribes of a market town as …

A TULLA-based oncology nurse, and ovarian cancer survivor, is urging women not to ignore the warning signs of gynaecological cancers. Anne Murphy, who is a member of the team at Clare Cancer Support, said that research shows many women are not aware of symptoms and don’t seek medical advice in time. “Early diagnosis is so important for a good prognosis,” Ms Murphy said. “I myself was diagnosed with early stage ovarian cancer in 2012.” The call comes ahead of World Gynaecologic Oncology Day on Sunday, when a number of buildings, including The Rock of Cashel and The National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) will light up in purple. “Clare Cancer Support are delighted to participate in this World Awareness Day,” Ms Murphy said, which is about raising awareness of gynaecological cancers, cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal and vulval. Womens’ gynaecological cancers are poorly represented in the public arena and this needs to change. Most gynaecological cancers have symptoms but research has …

HISTORY, culture, sport and memory were combined in Sixmilebridge last weekend, when both Scariff and Smith O’Brien’s intermediate hurlers wore black armbands to mark the centenary of the Scariff Martyrs, who were murdered by British Crown Forces on Killaloe Bridge in November 1920. The idea was proposed by the East Clare Memorial Committee, as part of their Scariff Martyrs 100 programme of commemorative events. The group have been commemorating the Scariff Martyrs, Alphie Rodgers, Michael ‘Brud’ McMahon, Martin Gildea and Michael Egan for many decades and are currently finalising plans for the 100th anniversary. According to the historian, Tomás Mac Conmara, who is part of the Memorial Committee, the unique encounter between Scariff and Killaloe, both areas so closely related to the story, presented a unique opportunity. “Our aim is to create as much awareness as possible of the Scariff Martyr’s story and its context in the War of Independence,” Dr MacConmara said. “It was unique that Killaloe and Scariff …