News

CLARE County Fire and Rescue is reviewing its procedures for responding to calls following a recent escalation in anti-social behaviour in one area of Ennis. On Saturday night, firefighters and Gardaí attended the scene of a bonfire in the Cloughleigh area of the town and were fortunate to escape uninjured after they came under attack from stone-throwing youths. While dealing with the incident, stones and other missiles were thrown at personnel and their vehicles. The officer’s side window in one fire appliance was smashed while the vehicle’s windscreen was also damaged and will have to be replaced. A fire officer, who was in the appliance at the time, escaped injury. The fire appliance sustained other damage also and as a result has had to be taken out of service until repairs are completed. Other firefighters were struck by an array of missiles including rocks, bottles and sticks but no injuries were reported. Personnel extinguished the fire and retreated from the …

A Clare man alleged to have been a “central figure” in a violent feud has admitted throwing a petrol bomb and discharging a firearm at a family home in Ennis. Amid a heavy garda presence at Ennis circuit court this week, Martin Mongans (34), a married father of eight with an address at College Grove, Ennis, pleaded guilty to a charge of endangerment contrary to section 13 of the Non Fatal Offences Against The Person Act. The charge against Mongans relates to an attack on a house at 25 Pearse Avenue, Cloughleigh, Ennis on November 22, 2021. The charge states Mongans intentionally or recklessly engaged in conduct – throwing a petrol bomb and the reckless discharge of a firearm – that created a substantial risk of death or serious harm. At a bail hearing at Ennis circuit court in July, detective sergeant, John Casey said husband and wife, John and Kelly O’Loughlin and seven children were in the house at …

Since 2019, the fight against “fake news” has become the motto for the public HPV vaccination campaign in which Laura Brennan and her group played a major role. That is one of the key messages from a new UK study by medical and data experts who analysed how the late Ennis HPV vaccine campaigner and her family helped to achieve a significant increase in the cervical cancer vaccination rate in Ireland by overcoming “fake news”. In this research, the authors studied vaccine hesitancy in relation to Covid-19 in France and Italy and then contrast this with the HPV vaccination discourse in Ireland. The report ‘Fighting Fake News: Online Disinformation in Covid Times’ is one of seven research studies funded under the British Academy’s Covid-19 Recovery: building future pandemic preparedness and understanding citizen engagement in the G7 programme. In 2010, the Irish government introduced a national vaccination campaign for young girls and boys against HPV. Up until 2015, a stable rate …

A NEW petition containing 15,000 signatures supporting the upgrading of acute hospitals in the Mid-West including Ennis Hospital is prompting correspondence between a local lobby group, the UL Hospitals’ Group and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly. A petition submitted by the Mid West Hospital Campaign has been discussed by the Dáil Petition Committee, which sent their proposal to the UL Hospitals’ Group for its views. The Hospital Campaign’s response to the Hospitals’ Group submission is being sent to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and the UHL management by the Dáil Secretariat. The Petition Committee meets fortnightly and will discuss any response the Hospital Campaign’s receives if it is made within the next 14 days. Noeleen Moran of the Mid-West Hospital Campaign said if Ennis Hospital was upgraded with proper investment, it could open a surgical observation unit and it could perform elective procedures. “If Ennis was upgraded to a Model Three facility, it could do elective procedures and have a functioning emergency …

PASSENGER numbers at Shannon Airport exceeded one million for the first nine months of the year, indicating the strength of its recovery since the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. Up to the end of September of this year 1,050,916 passengers had come through Shannon Airport. This represents 82.4% of the amount it carried in the first nine months of 2019, the last full year before Covid-19 shut down aviation across the world. The percentage would have been even higher had Covid not still been a factor in the early part of 2022. Shannon saw less than half the number of passengers in January 2022 that it did in January 2019, which was a relatively worse performance than in any of the eight months since. In addition, February was the second worst month by comparison with 2019. Shannon Airport Group CEO Mary Considine said it has been a positive year and that routes to Europe and the US have performed very well, …

A CLARE man has pleaded guilty to a drugs offence that carries a mandatory minimum 10-year prison sentence. Daniel O’Connell (32), with an address at Ballybrack, Clonlara, was arraigned before Ennis circuit court this week.  He pleaded guilty to possession of drugs – ketamine, cannabis and MMDA – at a time when the value of the drugs amounted to €13,000 or more.  The offence, which is contrary to section 15 (a) of the misuse of drugs act, carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.  A judge does have discretion not to apply the 10-year term if exceptional circumstances exist in the case.  O’Connell also pleaded guilty to possession of the hallucinogenic drug, DMT, contrary to section 3 of the misuse of the drugs act.  Both charges relate to a search carried out by gardaí in Ballybrack, Clonlara, on July 17, 2020.  Counsel for the director of public prosecutions (DPP), Lorcan Connolly BL, told the court the plea was acceptable …

THE roll-out of a new Laura Brennan HPV Vaccination Catch-up programme and the increase in vaccination rates has been described as a “game changer in Irish health”. That’s the view of her parents, Larry and Bernie, who have vigorously continued their daughter’s courageous advocacy work before she died from this cancer, with the help of their three children, Colin, Fergal and Kevin. “In the long term, it will result in a big savings as cervical cancer treatment costs a huge amount. Vaccines do save lives, it could have saved Laura’s. We promised Laura we would continue her work after she died until we got to where we did.” Laura’s key message when she was awarded the 2019 Clare Person of the Year Award was to “live the best possible life you can”, which is also on her gravestone. Larry stressed ordinary people can make a difference, recalling his son, Kevin and some friends came up with placing the HPV logo …

Gardaí in Ennis are investigating the circumstances of house fire that occurred overnight. The alarm was raised shortly after midnight when emergency services received a report of a property on fire at John Paul Avenue in the Cloughleigh area of the town. Units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennis station responded to the incident along with Gardaí and National Ambulance Service paramedics. One arrival, fire crews found the downstairs sitting room area well alight. It’s understood there was no one in the house at the time while Gardaí carried out inquiries in an effort to confirm the whereabouts of the owners but it’s believed they were away at the time. This was the third house fire in the wider Cloughleigh area in recent months following previous incidents at Gordon Drive in April and Childers Road in June. Gardaí are now investigating the circumstances of this latest blaze which is thought to be suspicious. The scene will be …