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CLARE milk suppliers will be waiting to see if there any new developments concerning a proposed joint venture between Kerry Co-op and Kerry Group. Negotiations concerning this joint venture were due be discussed at a Kerry Coop board meeting on Friday. A few years ago, dispute broke out between Kerry Co-op and Kerry Group over milk price. Kerry Co-op took an arbitration case against Kerry Group over the price Kerry Group was paying farmers for milk. The arbitration case dragged on for years, it was extremely drawn out and eventually the arbitrator gave a ruling for the co-op and Kerry Group to come to an agreement between themselves over the price of milk, if this wasn’t possible then they could come back to him. After the arbitration case, Kerry Group put their dairy business up for sale. This will include their Newmarket, Listowel and Charleville milk plants. According to Listowel dairy farmer, Dave Scannell, the dairy business has a milk …

STORM Ellen resulted in thousands of homes and businesses in East Clare being left without power and phone coverage, some for a number of days, as repair crews worked into last weekend to repair damage. The situation, which caused serious inconvenience for local retailers and households over the course of last Thursday and Friday, prompted the Cathaoirleach of the Killlaoe Municipal District to call on the main operators of the fixed-line network to keep their customers better informed in terms of outages and repair times. Eir came in from considerable criticism from Councillor Pat Hayes, who said the company needed to do more to support customers the event of widespread outages. “The power and phone outages caused real difficulties for people from Scariff, Mountshannon and out as far as Whitegate, after Storm Ellen,” he said. “The council and the Fire Service did a huge amount of work. The ESB, in fairness, were very helpful and, as always, responded as quickly …

A CLARE man has been instrumental in bringing together some of the country’s biggest musical acts to raise funds for The Marie Keating Foundation. Quin resident John Wall, who has stage-four prostate cancer, is among the team behind the Concert4Cancer event which will be broadcast on Virgin Media One on Friday night (August 28), with aim of raising €1m for services around Ireland. To-date Gary Barlow, Gavin James, Kodaline, Nathan Carter, Paddy Casey, Lisa McHugh, Hot House Flowers, Brian Kennedy, Lisa Lamb and a host of other stars, have recorded performances for the event. Their performances will be interspersed with messages from Mr Wall, Vicky Phelan, Stephen Teap and others affected by cancer. The event will be hosted by Anna Daly who will update audiences on live fundraising. The concert, which is sponsored by Permanent TSB, will also include a special performance from Riverdance to mark the 25th anniversary of its inaugural performance at Eurovision. “The work of the Marie …

BISHOP Emeritus of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh has added his voice to the debate raging over ‘Golfgate’, and raised concerns over a “vindictiveness” in Irish society. The fall-out from a dinner attended by more than 80 members of the Oireachtas Golf Society generated international headlines and is the subject of a Garda investigation over apparent breaches of Covid-19 restrictions. After the event in Clifden, Deputy Dara Calleary stepped down from the Agriculture portfolio and gave up the deputy leadership of Fianna Fáil. Also sanctioned was Deputy Jerry Buttimer, who resigned as Leas Cathaoirleach of the Seanad. Dr Michael Harty, a former Independent TD, issued an apology after attending. The Supreme Court has requested a report on the attendance at the event of former Attorney General, Mr Justice Séamus Woulfe. All the while, pressure intensified on Commissioner Phil Hogan, who announced his resignation a week after attending the dinner. The event led to a huge outpouring of anger. National and local …

SCARIFF Bay Community Radio will broadcast a co-production with the award-winning Sliabh Aughty Drama Group at 2pm on Sunday, with a repeat broadcast at 7pm. Entitled Mr McGuffin’s Plot Device and Writer Unblocking Emporium, the play is directed by Ruth O’Hagan, written by Tara Sparling and produced, engineered and edited by Eoin O’Hagan. The play is described as “innovative and hilarious play”. It is hoped that, with the cancellation of the annual drama circuit events, this could inspire other amateur groups to write and perform plays for radio. Ahead of the broadcast Ruth O’Hagan and Tara Sparling will be interviewed on Saturday Chronicle at 11.30am. The station, which covers East Clare is available on 88.3FM and 97.2FM; online at scariffbayradio.com; and on the TuneIn app.

LOCAL communities around South-East Clare are said to be on high alert currently, over concerns about a spate of dog thefts, as well as the presence of roving burglars. It follows the seizure last week of a number of pedigree breeds by Gardaí in Limerick, following a search in Rathkeale. “People are concerned and extra vigilant at the moment,” said PJ Mason of the Broadford Action Group. “Not just about the dog thefts but about robberies and burglaries more generally.” Mr Mason said that older people are particularly concerned. “I was speaking recently to a senior gentleman,” he outlined, “who is fearful for his dog and I would be saddened to think that people are now living with this fear factor.” The matter has been raised by South-East Clare-based TD, Deputy Cathal Crowe who said drones are believed to be in use by gangs targeting properties. The Fianna Fáil member has called for tougher penalties for offenders and the creation …

The death has taken place in Carrigoran Nursing Home, Newmarket on Fergus of former Clonlara parish priest, Fr Brendan Cleary. Born on October 18, 1931, Fr Brendan was a native of Milltown Malbay and was a priest of the Diocese of Killaloe for 65 years. A past pupil of St Flannan’s College, he studied for the priesthood at St Patrick’s College, Carlow where he was ordained on June 5, 1955. His first appointment was on temporary Mission to the Diocese of Brentwood, UK and on his return in 1960 he was appointed curate in Killanena. He moved to Clonlara as curate in 1963. Fr Brendan was appointed curate in Killaloe Parish in 1980, living in Bridgetown from 1982 onwards. He was appointed adminstrator of the parish of Bridgetown/O’Briensbridge in 1987 and two years later he was appointed Parish Priest of Clonlara where he served until his retirement as PP in 2007. He then served as A.P in Clonlara until 2016 …

The race for the last semi-final spot in the Clare senior football championship comes to a head this week, with four teams still left in the hunt to take the last remaining berth. The winners of this week’s two playoff ties will do battle once more on Sunday afternoon for that semi-final place. Derrick Lynch looks ahead to the action Clare SFC Preview Miltown v Cooraclare A repeat of the 2015 final is in store where the prize for the winners is one more shot at reaching the last four of this year’s championship. There has been plenty changes in both squads since that decider, while the fortunes of the two clubs have also taken different paths. Miltown have added back to back titles in 2018 and 2019 to go along with that victory while the Sky Blues have embarked on more of a rebuilding process by integrating a number of their younger talent into senior berths. Both sides will come …