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Clare primary and secondary schools are being invited to participate in a course aimed at encouraging them to reduce their energy use and save money on their energy bills. The Clare Education Centre, Clare County Council and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) are collaborating to run an Energy Management Course on Monday, October 20 and Monday, November 10. Teachers have to signal their interest by 5pm this Friday. Pat Hanrahan, director of the Clare Education Centre said, “We look forward to hosting the course at our offices in Ennis. The course will see participants being guided step-by-step through the energy management process from understanding bills and energy use in the school to developing and implementing an energy saving plan. The course will also feed into the Green Schools Programme.” Clare Environmental Awareness Officer, Joan Tarmey added: “The course involves attending two half-day workshops where schools will be given access to a range of resources, online tools, expert advice and …

Clare primary schools have been urged by Labour TD, Michael McNamara to take advantage of free online farm safety learning resources, currently being offered by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA). Deputy McNamara said, “The danger associated with working and living on farms is known to all, with the latest figures showing that 2,000 injuries occur on Irish farms each year. However, the issue has come into stark light recently with two tragic deaths on Clare farms and the death and serious injury of two girls on a Cork farm. “A crucial step in preventing deadly farm accidents is educating our children about the dangers and risks of being on a farm. In this regard, the HSA has produced excellent resources free of charge for primary school teachers looking to broach the topic of farm safety with their pupils. It offers guidelines for teachers, and ideas for making children aware of hazards on the farm, such as machinery, slurry pits and …

Today, October 1,  is  International Day of Older People and ALONE is highlighting the fact that one in five Irish older people live in deprivation. CEO of ALONE, Sean Moynihan said, “International Day of Older People is a time for older persons to celebrate the positive things in their life, to rejoice in their family, to celebrate their friends and to enjoy the rewards that they have earned through many years hard work. “In ALONE, while we do celebrate these positives, every day we are in contact with people who are within the 20% of Irish older people that are at risk of poverty or living in deprivation. There is an unacceptable amount of older people within society with very little to celebrate and who are living without a range of basic human rights.” Mr Moynihan noted that instead of becoming a more age – friendly country, Ireland’s number of older people, who are marginalised or deprived, has actually increased from …

Gardai have confirmed that they have located Sixmilebridge teenager Dylan O’Doherty safe and well. The 15 year old was last seen at his home in Cappa Lodge eight days ago. No further details are available at this time.

More than 2,500 international students, representing over 100 countries, are attending the University of Limerick this year, providing a €19 million boost to the Mid-West. This figure figure is based on student spending estimates of between €7,000 and €12,000 in one year and does not include tuition fees paid to the university. Undergraduates at UL this year include 150 Brazilian students taking part in the Science without Borders programme. Josephine Page, director, International Education Division said, “International students make a very significance impact to our region in terms of our economy and tourism but also in the cultural links built which will continue for years to come.” University president, Professor Don Barry, said, “We have one of the largest Erasmus exchange programmes in Ireland; we have been welcoming study abroad students for the past 20 years and have made many academic links and partnerships with universities right across the globe.” Among the international students visiting UL this year are those taking …

Dee Hogan, a behaviour and education integrated specialist, will give a talk at a public information and film night in Glór this Thursday night at 8 pm. Ms Hogan has over 30 years experience working in the area of special needs. She is a qualified Montessori teacher with a Master’s Degree in Special Education Autism from the University of Birmingham; and has a number of other qualifications. In addition to teaching in an autism unit attached to a mainstream school in North Tipperary, she is also a member of the team at the Child Development Centre in Galway. She provides training for teachers, third level students, parents and professionals with a specialised focus on behavioural interventions, autism, functional social skills and the design of highly-motivating individual education plans. She assists teachers to promote positive behaviour and manage challenging behaviour in and out of the classroom. There will also be a screening of the short movie Mission to Lars – a semi-documentary …

The current state of the construction industry in County Clare is highlighted in the results of a new survey. One hundred and twenty-two new residential buildings were recorded in Clare in the first six months of this year, according GeoDirectory. For the year ending June 30, 2014, there were 601 transactions in Clare and the average property price was €123,088. The new buildings in Clare are composed of 122 residential buildings, 93 commercial buildings and 7 dual-purpose buildings, with both residential and commercial elements. These new additions bring the total number of buildings in Clare to 57,805. The GeoDirectory database distinguishes between a ‘dwelling’ ,which is a single residential unit, as opposed to a ‘building’, which can comprise one or more dwellings. Clare had a residential density of 18.0 dwellings per km². Dublin had the highest residential density per square kilometre (573 dwellings per km²). Leitrim (12.4) had the lowest residential density, followed by the Western counties of Mayo (12.6) …

Clare County Council has received confirmation that recoupment of costs incurred by the council during its response to a series of damaging storms during the period  January 27  to  February 17 last will now be dealt with by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. The Council said that it incurred costs totalling €779,870 in its response to the severe weather and the clean-up works and necessary immediate works carried out during the period. Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, John Crowe said, “My colleagues and I have relentlessly pursued recoupment of these costs and I am delighted that the department is now in a position to recoup these costs to the Council. We will continue to progress the programmes necessary to deal with the effects of the storms on communities particularly along the western seaboard.” Clare County Council chief executive, Tom Coughlan confirmed that the local authority “will now proceed to submit a claim as requested by the …