News

A TEAM of students from the Shannon College of Hotel Management is getting ready to compete at a top continental hospitality competition. The Mise En Place Cup in Maastricht is a competition for Europe’s top hospitality schools and third year students Alex O’Sullivan, Grace O’Toole, Darragh Curran, Charlotte O’Brien and Zoe Ahern will represent Shannon. Speaking this week, Alex said, “Within our year we all compete to be on the team, by sending in different introduction videos and our CVs. “Then our mentor chooses five students who she thinks will represent the college well. We are going over to Maastricht in February of 2023 to take part in the competition.” On the assessment of the competing colleges, she added,”At the minute we have to write a paper and when we get over there we have to pitch it Dragon’s Den-style. “We have to pretend that we are pitching to a company, a hotel group, trying to sway them in a …

TRUMP International spent just under €4.5 million on wages and salaries in 2021, newly filed accounts show. While the company was one of West Clare’s largest employers with an average of 230 staf in 2019, this dipped to 112 in the first year of the pandemic, before coming back up to 137 last year. The amount spent on wages increased by €1.27 million in 2021 compared to the previous year. Trump International made an operating profit of €509,892 for the year, rebounding from an operating loss of almost €2 million in 2020. However, despite the operating profit, its net assets declined by over €1 million, largely due to depreciation and amortisation of €2.054 million. During the year the company received €1.85 million in government grants. While 2021 was a difficult year because of Covid restrictions, a note accompanying the accounts said Trump International had performed quite well in the circumstances. “While the hotel had to close to the public for …

IDA client companies recently received a briefing on the state of the housing market in County Clare. Members at a meeting of Shannon Municipal District were informed of the briefing by Director of Services with Clare County Council Liam Conneally. He said that the IDA’s regional manager had asked him to prepare a presentation for the IDA client companies in the Mid-West, in relation to the amount of residential land and the availability of housing in the county. Mr Conneally said that they had wanted to hear about the future pipeline of housing, the number of planning applications received and granted, and short, medium and long term projections. He said that in Clare planning permission has been granted for over 1,000 units this year, and that there is “a considerable pipleine in the system yet to be acted on”. There was also a Q & A session with the company representatives and he said it was “a useful exercise”. Mr …

Gardaí at Ennis Garda Station are appealing for witnesses as they investigate a number of incidents that occurred over the last week. On Wednesday, November 30, reports were received of a firearm being discharged at Shallee Drive and Cloughleigh Road. Crime prevention officer Sergeant Triona Brooks said, “Thankfully there was nobody injured. Gardaí were quickly at the scene and a number of searches were carried out in the Ennis area after the reports and a number of vehicles have been seized as part of this investigation. On Friday afternoon, December 2 at approximately 3pm, a collision between the occupants of an Audi A6 and an Audi A4 occurred at Gaurus, Ennis. “One vehicle was rammed by another vehicle and a number of males left one of the vehicles and fled the scene. “Uniformed and Detective Gardaí from Ennis Garda Station responded immediately to this incident. An extensive search was carried out by Gardaí attached to Ennis Garda Station assisted by …

A MAN in his 40s was arrested after gardai raided a house in north Clare and seized almost €11,000 of suspected cannabis. On Wednesday, November 30 gardaí from Ennistymon and Kilrush Garda Stations carried out a search under warrant of a house in Lisdoonvarna. During the course of the search approximately €11,000 worth of suspected Cannabis Herb was located and seized. A male in his early 40s was arrested and detained at Kilrush Garda Station. He was charged with simple possession and possession for sale or supply and brought in custody before Ennis District Court on December 1, when he was released on his own bail to appear at a later date before the same court. The suspected controlled substances have been forwarded to Forensic Science Ireland for examination.

PLANS are underway for the delivery of a pedestrian crossing at the top of Abbey Street, with one local councillor describing the current situation as “deadly dangerous”. Councillor Pat Daly raised the issue at a recent meeting of the Ennis Municipal District where he said, “It’s seriously dangerous crossing the street at this particular area of town.” He continued, “I have seen first hand people coming to cross the road and they are chancing their arm crossing over. How people have not been hurt or killed I can’t understand it. It’s a serious health and safety issue.” Paddy Tiernan, acting senior executive engineer responded to the motion, “A need for a pedestrian crossing at this location has been identified and is planned. “The pedestrian crossing is currently planned to be delivered under the Ennis Town Centre Public Realm Regeneration Project B. This project is programmed to commence construction in 2023.” Councillor Daly stated, “I welcome something will be done, I …

Over €950,000 of suspected cannabis plants have been seized and three persons arrested following the search of a premises conducted as part of Operation Tara in County Galway yesterday. The search of a premises was conducted by Gardaí attached to Galway Garda Station and the Galway Divisional Drugs Unit and occurred shortly after 3:30pm in Kilcolgan, County Galway. During the course of this search, Gardaí discovered a sophisticated growhouse operation within the premises and seized suspected cannabis plants worth approximately €950,000. Two men (both in their 40s) and one woman (aged in her 30s) were arrested at the scene. They are currently being detained at the North Western Regional HQ under the provisions of Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996. All of the drugs seized will be sent to Forensic Science Ireland for analysis. Investigations are ongoing. Speaking yesterday about this seizure, Chief Superintendent Gerard Roche in Galway said: “This is a significant blow to those …

AN INDEPENDENT Senator has written to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) requesting a full investigation into claims that a life jacket used by a Doolin Coast Guard volunteer may have been faulty before she tragically lost her life six years ago. Mother-of-two Caitríona Lucas (41) had offered to help out the neighbouring Coast Guard unit from Kilkee in the search for a missing man, but she died after its rigid inflatable boat (RIB) capsized in a shallow surf zone on September 12, 2016. Two other crew members on board the RIB, who were also thrown into the sea, survived. Speaking to the Clare Champion, Senator Gerard Craughwell confirmed he has written a letter to the HSA to advise them life jackets provided to Coast Guard volunteers in late 2014 and early 2015 were tested in a number of stations around the country, which allegedly failed in all tests. He has also asked the Comptroller and Auditor General to examine …