News

THE Clarecastle-born director of a charity, bringing hope to very young children in Kenya whose lives have been blighted by sexual abuse and prostitution, is appealing for people to help build a refuge for the children. Ray of Sunshine Foundation director, Olive Halpin, and patron, RTÉ’s Derek Davis, will launch the 2016 building project with a fundraising Festive Night of Food and Fashion in the Inn at Dromoland next week. Children in Kenya, who have been abused and some trafficked in the sex trade from as young as three years old, are relying on the charity to bring some light and hope into their darkness. “These children have been abandoned when they are of no more use to the people who abuse them and they are left deeply scarred, physically, emotionally and mentally, having experienced only the world’s ugliness,” Ms Halpin said. She added, “The Ray of Sunshine Foundation is working to show them beauty and a future. These beautiful …

CLARE County Council members have rejected the offer of meeting with Irish Water officials on a one-to-one basis. Instead, after protracted debate this week, councillors insisted that they would meet, as a group, with Irish Water at 10am next Monday in the council chamber, with the public and media present. From 11am, councillors would have the opportunity to meet privately with Irish Water if they want to. It was also suggested that the various municipal districts could meet with Irish Water to discuss capital projects in their respective areas. Monday’s adjourned county council meeting had heard that the proposed “clinic” with Irish Water would consist of six and a half minute, one-to-one meetings between each of the 28 councillors and the Irish Water delegation. However, on Monday, Councillor Cathal Crowe said if the councillors were denied the opportunity to meet in public and as a group with Irish Water, they should not meet them at all. On Wednesday, Councillor Gerry …

The ASTI Standing Committee and TUI Executive Committee today (Friday) decided that a second day’s strike action over the Junior Cycle dispute will take place on Thursday, January 22. The unions also decided, if necessary, to take an additional day of strike action, the date to be announced. Both unions, which represent 27,000 second level teachers, have a strong mandate for industrial action following ballots of membership. A first day’s strike action took place on December 2. The executive bodies of both unions also agreed that they are prepared to meet with Dr Pauric Travers with a view to facilitating constructive engagement that might help to resolve the impasse. The Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan stated on Wednesday that she intends to request that Dr Travers consult with both sides, and the unions see this as a positive development.

A record price of €390,000 was achieved for a house and 13.6 acres at a public auction in Ennis this week. The house, located between the church and school in Deerpark, Doora, was the home of the late Fr Paddy Lynch. The house is set back some 350 metres from the road and is approached by a tree-lined avenue. Dating to the 1700s, it is a small period house and is need of refurbishment. Nevertheless, more than 35 parties viewed the house over the past five weeks and in excess of 60 people packed the Lemenagh Room in the Old Ground Hotel for the auction on Thursday afternoon. “Bidding opened at €200,000 and briskly reached €370,000 in €10,000 increments. Five further bids brought down the hammer at €390,000,” auctioneer, Paddy Darmody of Sherry FitzGerald MccMahon reported. “I have been with Sherry FitzGerald McMahon for more than 35 years and this house is unique in that it is a small country …

IT’S a sobering reality that there are few GAA clubs that have not been touched, in some way, by suicide. With this scourge in mind, the GAA and the Samaritans have launched a partnership, which aims to reduce the stigma around the issue of mental health and to encourage help-seeking behaviour. In its next phase, clubs are being encouraged to get in touch with Clare Samaritans liaison volunteers, who can arrange awareness talks for their members. The Samaritans exists to offer confidential, emotional support to people who are experiencing feelings of distress and despair, including feelings that may lead to suicide. This is done, primarily, by providing those who are having trouble with a safe place to talk. To achieve this, the charity operates a helpline, which is available 24/7, at a free-to-caller number 116 123. They may be contacted by email at jo@samaritans.org, or people can also call to the centre on the Kilrush Road in Ennis, between the …

As Christmas draws near, Clare’s Crime Prevention Officer is handing out some advice to create awareness among the public and business community of crimes that occur at this time of year. Sergeant Joe Downey, of Ennis Garda Station, explained that thefts are more frequent at this time of year and are carried out by casual and professional shoplifters, who may be operating in groups. He advised retailers to ask themselves a number of questions to help deter crime. – Have you enough staff working, to cope with the extra influx of customers? – Have all staff received sufficient training in theft prevention and know what to do, in the event that a theft is discovered? – Are there clear lines of sight throughout the shop, to enable alert staff to spot potential thieves? – Are the higher value goods within the shop more secure and under surveillance by CCTV cameras? Sergeant Downey said high value goods should not be stored …

Students all over Clare are being encouraged to get creative this Christmas and put together a submission for the 2015 Student Theatre Awards writing categories. There are two writing categories in this year’s Bord Gáis Energy organised awards. In the Best Dramatic Critique category, students are invited to submit a critique of any theatrical production they’ve seen. Any performance based production is suitable for this category. So if you go along to a panto, choral evening or variety show over the festive period, be sure to take the time to create a review for the awards. In the Best Short Scene Script category, students are given the freedom to create their own scene and there are no limits except their own imaginations. There are a couple of things to bear in mind; ultimately this is a performance scrip, so think about how it will look and sound, not just how it reads. Open to primary school students from 3rd – …

Russian travel writers representing an inflight magazine and a fashion magazine, with a combined readership of hundreds of thousands of people, were in Clare this week, as part of their exploration of holiday destinations in Ireland. The visit was arranged by Tourism Ireland the their itinerary, designed by Fáilte Ireland, included a guided walk in the Burren National Park, as well as visits to the Aillwee Caves and the Cliffs of Moher. The writers stayed at the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis and Dromoland Castle. Jim Paul, Tourism Ireland’s head of developing markets, said, “Fact-finding visits like this are an important element of our overall annual publicity and PR programme; they are a really effective way for us to get positive exposure for Clare and Ireland through the international media. “Outbound travel from Russia is growing fast, with almost 36 million visits outside of Russia taken each year. The majority of our overseas visitors come from the core tourism markets …