News

TEENAGERS racially abused and spat at a woman while she was walking in Ennis in an act which has been described as “unacceptable” by a local councillor. Details of the incident were relayed at a recent meeting of the Ennis Municipal District where Councillor Johnny Flynn highlighted the woman’s ordeal. He outlined that the woman is from Georgia but now living in Ennis and wishes to remain anonymous. “She never experienced a racial incident until she came to Ennis,” he said pointing out that the county capital has recently been named ‘Ireland’s Friendliest Place’. “A group of young teenagers racially abused her and ran up and spat at her, she was very upset,” he said. “It is not acceptable for a woman to not feel safe within our town, that level of behaviour is not acceptable.” He added he would be raising the matter at an upcoming meeting of the Joint Policing Committee. His comments came as Councillor Mary Howard …

A passenger flight from the United States to Europe diverted to Shannon Airport this morning after a cabin crew member was reported to have fallen ill. United Airlines flight UA-74 was travelling from Newark in New Jersey to Frankfurt, Germany at the time. There were 175 passengers and crew on board. At around 8.30am, when the Boeing 767-300 series jet was about 500 kilometres southwest of Shannon, the flight advised air traffic controllers that a member of the cabin crew had fallen ill. At the time, the flight crew was in contact with controllers at the Irish Aviation Authority’s North Atlantic Communications Centre at Ballygirreen in Co Clare. The crew advised controllers that they wished to divert to Shannon and requested emergency medical services to be alerted and placed on standby. The ill cabin crew member was cared for by colleagues as the flight diverted to Shannon. On the ground, the National Ambulance Service was alerted and requested to mobilise …

IF a commercial deal was handled as badly as the transfer of the Shannon Heritage sites to the County Council, those in charge would probably be looking for new employment, said Clare TD Michael McNamara this week. It should be far easier to establish if Clare County Council can get the finance it says it needs, he feels. “If money isn’t available, money isn’t available. I’ve never been one to make little of money or to say that €15 million, which is reputedly what’s being asked, is a small amount of money, it’s not. “On the one hand you have Government representatives saying that it’s a small amount of money, which I don’t agree with, and on the other hand they’re saying that every effort is being made. “It seems to me that the dispute isn’t even about money, there seems to have been a lack of interaction between the Government and its various departments, Shannon Airport which is a …

NEW figures from the Department of Education show that there are now 531 Ukrainian children in Clare primary schools and another 326 in the county’s second level schools. Cork, Donegal, Dublin and Kerry are the only counties with more Ukrainian pupils, however even Donegal and Kerry have significantly greater populations than Clare, as well as Cork and Dublin. Overall around 6.5% of the Ukrainian children attending Irish schools are doing so in County Clare. While the numbers are large, Clare TD Cathal Crowe said that the Department of Education have coped quite well with a very challenging situation. “Capacity is a problem, yet capacity can always be increased if decisions are taken quickly to do so. I would think that from the get-go Minister Norma Foley’s office have been one of the better departments to engage. “They set up a team of people in each regional area, so there’s a Mid-West team that have been dealing with school principals. “There …

A PLANNED sale by Shannon Airport Group of a 4.9 acre site at the Quin Road Business Park, which includes a pumping station serving housing estates in Ennis, would leave Irish Water “over a barrel of sewage flowing backwards into estates”, Independent TD Michael McNamara has told the Dáil. Deputy McNamara has voiced concerns that private ownership of the infrastructure could negatively effect the provision of a public service to a number of large housing estates in Ennis. This week he asked the government to bring together the relevant bodies involved in a bid to ensure the pumping station, described as a vital piece of public infrastructure, is protected. Speaking in the Dáil this week the Clare TD raised his concerns about the sale to Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath. He outlined, “Shannon Commercial Enterprises, the successor of Shannon Development is selling five acres of land on the Quin Road in Ennis. “In one corner of that …

GLOWING tributes were paid to a Clonlara resident for her invaluable contribution to her local community during a recent presentation. The legacy left by Theresa Gleeson (70) was aptly summed up by Clonlara Community Creche deputy manager, Laura Woods when she stated:“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” Ms Gleeson was given a photograph includes images of St Senan’s National School, the local church and Clonlara Community Crèche as symbols of the indelible mark she has left on the local community. The mother-of-two was on the national school board of management for 25 years, she volunteered for the local church for years and has spent 38 years working in childcare. The crèche caters for 74 children that are looked after by 21 staff. In 2001, Ms Gleeson was named the Clare Person of the Year during this period when she was honoured at a function in …

TENSIONS are “extremely high” between two families alleged to be involved in a violent feud in Ennis, a court has heard. At Ennis District Court earlier this week, Garda Alan Burke said, “Tensions have been very high over the last couple of months between the two families.” Garda Burke was giving evidence as the State objected to the granting of bail for Michael Doherty (22). Doherty, with an address at St Michael ‘s Park, Ballymaley, Ennis, is charged with two offences arising from an incident at Hogan’s service station, Gort Road, on the outskirts of Ennis on November 18, 2022. Doherty is charged with unlawful possession of a slash hook contrary to section 9 the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act. He is also charged with breach of the peace contrary to section 6 of the Criminal Justice Public Order Act. The court heard Doherty replied “no” to each of the two charges, under caution. Garda Burke said gardaí have secured …

A NATIONAL coaching body has served up a provincial award to a local coach in recognition of his club and charity work. Wesley O’Brien has been named Munster coach of the year by Tennis Coach Ireland. Wesley introduced a coaching programme in Killaloe Ballina Tennis Club, trains visually impaired people to play tennis as part of Blind Tennis and has shown hundreds of refugees in various countries how to use a racquet during his “Hit and Hope” charity trips abroad. In an interview with the Clare Champion, Wesley said this award was unexpected and hopes it will help him to secure new sponsors for his Blind Tennis initiative. While Wesley has received funding from different Sports Partnerships and Vision Sports, he believes it is not sustainable to continue to rely on these sources in the future. Recently, he travelled over to Wrexham to assist Marguerite Quinn, who competed in the United Kingdom Blind Tennis Championships against players who had more …