News

A County Clare man has claimed the UL Hospitals Group hasn’t prepared for the cold weather after his “frozen” 86-year-old father, who has dementia, was forced to wear his coat in an old ward at University Hospital Limerick (UHL). After spending almost three days on a trolley, the elderly man was transferred to a Ward 4 C in the old part of UHL on Saturday of December 3 at 11pm. “My father, who has dementia had to wear his coat in a hospital bed during the cold weather. Because my father is elderly, he feels the cold more than other people. He doesn’t have blankets, he only has a sheet and a blue cover. You need about ten blue covers to equal one blanket.” The man, who has opted to remain anonymous for family reasons, recalled when he visited his father the next day, he found he was “frozen”. After discovering the two radiators close to his father’s bed were …

THE addition of a new Ryanair service to Liverpool from Shannon Airport has been hailed as an excellent tourism opportunity for the region. The new service with Ryanair will operate twice weekly on Fridays and Sundays from March 26 next year and follows news three weeks ago of new Ryanair services to Naples in Italy and Porto in Portugal. It is part of the Shannon Airport Group’s work to build back air services, which has seen considerable success. Welcoming the announcement, Mary Considine, CEO, The Shannon Airport Group said, “This new Liverpool service not alone represents opportunities for passengers from Shannon to travel to an extremely popular city but also represents a tourism opportunity for this region. “Our passengers across the region can take advantage of the convenience of flying from Shannon and jet off to a growing range of destinations as we continue to focus on building back our air services following the pandemic.” Ryanair’s Director of Digital & …

AFTER 34 years, Dr Phillip Smyth has retired as head of the Shannon College of Hotel Management. He is succeeded by Adrian Sylver, who is the fifth head of the College since it was founded 71 years ago. Dr Smyth joined Shannon College in 1988 after a career in the Defence Forces, with Army duties in border control, overseas and as a lecturer in the Military College. His background had a major influence in his management style at Shannon College of Hotel Management, with attention to detail, impeccable presentation, discipline and hard work, all integral parts of the learning. In his role, he successfully guided Shannon College of Hotel Management through three decades of immense change, from his start at the College with only four staff and 150 students, to the institution it is today with more than 40 staff and more than 450 students. Through his time at Shannon, Dr Smyth oversaw and contributed to important milestones including Shannon’s …

A NEW pet crematorium has opened its doors for the first time this week having gotten the green light from An Bord Pleanála. “Peaceful Paws”, which has been supported by local vets, opened on the Gort Road in Ennis on Monday. Planning permission was initially granted by Clare County Council before being appealed by a resident of County Meath, “Don Weldon”. It was established by Aimee and Danny Keller in response to the lack of this service within the county and surrounding areas. The nearest similar facility is in Kerry, with the developers stating that the associated delay following the loss of a pet “can be very distressing” for owners. Mr Keller outlined when a person loses a pet, they can be collected from their house, from a veterinary surgeon or the person can bring the deceased animal to Peaceful Paws. Once the pet is cremated, it can then be returned in an urn, tribute box, a specially designed scatter …

TWO lucky National Lottery players in county Clare were celebrating this weekend after winning €50,000 each in Friday night’s EuroMillions ‘Ireland Only Raffle’ draw. The winning tickets were both sold in Spar shops in the county in what was the eighth of twelve draws in the National Lottery’s ’12 Draws of Christmas’ promotion. One ticket was sold in the Spar on Turnpike Road, Clonroadbeg, Ennis, while the second ticket was sold in the Spar on Main Street in Ennistymon. The ninth draw will take place this Tuesday December 13 where more players are guaranteed to win the fantastic prize. Every player in Ireland who buys a ticket for any EuroMillions draw between the 15th of November and 23rd of December will be automatically entered into the ‘Ireland Only Raffle’ for that corresponding draw. A unique code on each ticket will be the player’s raffle number. 120 players over the six weeks will scoop €50,000. It could be you!      As …

“VIGOROUSLY” growing flower beds along an Ennis cycling route are sowing the seeds of discontent among local residents experiencing difficulty accessing and leaving their homes, a meeting of councillors has heard. Planting carried out as part of efforts to improve cycling facilities in the St Flannan’s area has strongly grown during the summer with the Ennis Municipal District acknowledging this can “hinder” sight-lines. A review of the planting of these flower beds is now set to be carried out, the local authority has confirmed. Traffic calming and cycle lane infrastructure was introduced along the route linking St Flannan’s to the Kilrush Road in 2019. Councillor Johnny Flynn urged the Ennis Municipal District at a recent meeting to “carry out alterations to the cycling infrastructure installed along by St Flannans to the Kilrush road in order to improve access in and out of houses particularly those affected by flower beds constructed in that scheme.” Householders living in the area are being …

SIX months after the government agreed to open a grant scheme to Clare homeowners affected by pyrite, more than one thousand people in this county continue to live in defective homes. As the first cold snap of the winter bites, many face the prospect of sky-rocketing costs for heating, much of which will escape through the severe cracks in their homes.  Despite what was described as a “positive” meeting, this week, between Council officials and members of Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG), there is no clarity on when exactly homeowners in this county will be able to apply for the grant. The current estimate is that the scheme will open in Q1 of next year, but no exact date has been set. Dr Martina Cleary, Linda O’Callaghan and Geraldine Kennedy attended the meeting on Wednesday (December 7). “It was a very positive meeting,” Dr Cleary said, “but the Council doesn’t seem to know much more than the homeowners. The Department …

A FASCINATING historical collection including what is believed to be Michael Collins’ ‘Missing Money Case’ has been unveiled for the first time. The Clare Champion has been shown very rare historical artefacts by a local farmer in an East Clare location that would be regarded as a collector’s dream. The family, who are steeped in IRA connections, provided safe houses for IRA volunteers during the War of Independence, which were used by Michael Collins on at least one occasion to collect money from East Clare IRA Brigade officer in charge, Michael Brennan. During the War of Independence, Collins was Director of Intelligence of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a government minister of the self-declared Irish Republic. He was then Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State from January 1922 and commander-in-chief of the National Army from July until he was shot and killed in an ambush at Béal na Bláth by anti-Treaty forces on August 22, …