News

Clare Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe is in talks with ministerial colleagues ahead of an expected decision on the immediate future of the Shannon Heritage sites. As things stand, sites including Bunratty Castle and King John’s Castle are due to close at the end of the month while the likes of Craggaunowen and Knappogue Castles have remained closed since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. “I’ve spent quite a considerable amount of time this week chatting to my colleagues, including ministers with a decision-making capacity on Shannon Heritage,” said Deputy Crowe. “Minister Michael McGrath has confirmed to me that the file has reached his department and it is now being examined, with a decision due in the coming days. “I have reiterated the importance of these sites to Clare to the Minister, particularly given the year we have been facing. “This morning, I held an impromptu meeting with Shannon Heritage workers following a separate meeting I was at …

Gardaí have arrested a woman and seized €72,000 in cash following the search of a house in Westbury in South East Clare. Shortly after 7pm last Sunday evening, Gardaí from the Limerick Divisional Drugs Unit, assisted by the Armed Response Unit, executed a search warrant at a house in the Westbury area. The search operation took place as part of an ongoing operation targeting the sale and supply of drugs. During the course of the search Gardaí seized approximately €72,000 in cash. A woman, aged in her 20s, was arrested at the scene and brought to Henry Street Garda Station. She was detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996 and has since been released.   A file will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Met Éireann has issued a Status Yellow rainfall warning for Clare. The rainfall warning covers the province of Munster as well as counties Galway, Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Wexford, Wicklow, Offaly. Met Éireann is warning of heavy, possibly thundery, rain during today ( Monday) with accumulations of 25 to 40mm in places. Localised flooding may also occur. The warning is valid to midnight tonight.

CLARE is among the counties to report positive Covid-19 cases today (Sunday, August 16). There have been 66 new cases nationally. There have been no new deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). There has now been a total of 1,774 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland. As of midnight Saturday, August 15, the HPSC has been notified of 66 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 27,257 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. Of the cases notified today; • 34 are men / 29 are women • 67% are under 45 years of age • 12 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case • 3 cases have been identified as community transmission • The remainder of these cases are still under investigation • 21 in Kildare, 16 in Dublin, 6 in Limerick, and the rest of the 23 cases are in Clare, Donegal, Laois, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, …

AN EMOTIONAL appeal has been issued by the father of a young Shannon girl with Cystic Fibrosis, as the county’s rate of Covid-19 spiked sharply this week. Kieran McCarthy, dad of 12-year-old Aoibheann, and a member of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland (CFI) is urging people not to become complacent about their safety and that of others, especially the most vulnerable. He said that in recent days, he has seen “crazy things,” that are very upsetting to his family and to others at risk. He told The Champion he believes the change in government has led to confusion over the safety message, and called for more to be done to convince younger people of the need to protect their families and the wider community. “Some people don’t understand because they have never had to experience illness or loss,” he said. “Some people are oblivious. Nine out of ten teens don’t understand hardship and loss. What they don’t realise is that it will …

SUSAN Crawford is set to be co-opted onto Clare County Council, filling the seat left vacant following the appointment of Róisín Garvey as a senator. Ms Crawford was the choice of party members, ahead of Sophie Pigot of Ennistymon. A former college lecturer, she has an adult son, Tomás, with autism and established her own independent autism consultancy in recent times. A native of Inagh as is Ms Garvey, she has lived in Miltown Malbay for many years. Ms Crawford completed a PhD in the field of Fundamental Movement Skills and Autism in 2007, while she is a two time Fulbright award winner, for her work on the development of autism awareness programmes. She researched and developed the Get Autism Active online programme, which develops skills of movement, provides opportunity for further development of heatlh related physical acitivity, participation in exercise and sport and social inclusion. She has completed marathons, and in 2019, she undertook a 2,500km walk, run and …

“FEAR and despair” is impacting Clare publicans’ mental health as the closure of pubs and uncertainty over their re-opening continues, Clare Vintners Federation of Ireland chairman Darragh McAllister told a meeting this week. The meeting of the Clare branch held at the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis saw six of Clare’s Oireachtas members hear the concerns of the county’s publicans. The meeting comes a week after it was announced that the re-opening of pubs that don’t serve food been delayed until August 31 at the earliest. In attendance were Cathal Crowe TD, Michael McNamara TD, Violet Ann Wynne TD, Joe Carey TD and senators Timmy Dooley and Martin Conway and Mayor of Clare, Mary Howard with apologies from senator Róisín Garvey. At the meeting, which was limited to 50 attendees as per Covid-19 regulations, Mr McAllister, welcomed the presence of the Oireachtas members. In a wide-ranging address detailing the current state of the trade, Mr McAllister highlighted the many false …

A LOCAL heritage group have made sure Covid-19 would not extinguish their plans to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the burning of a church in Clarecastle. The Clarecastle & Ballyea Heritage & Wildlife Group had planned on marking the centenary of the attack on St Mary’s Church of Ireland back in April, however the plans had to be put on hold due to the pandemic. The group have now reignited the commemoration, but instead of hosting an event they have produced an information brochure detailing the history of what has been described by local historian Dr Joe Power as a “shocking sectarian incident”. Eric Shaw of the Clarecastle & Ballyea Heritage & Wildlife Group, who compiled the publication told us, “The burning of the church is an event not known to the younger generation here or to newcomers to Clarecastle in more recent times. The burning marked a turbulent time in our local history. Nothing remains of the building. The …