News

MORE than a quarter of people helped by Milford Care Centre (MCC) every year are from Clare. Clare people are also to the fore in driving and expanding MCC’s services in the Mid-West, particularly when it comes to the work involved in financing and funding the specialist care needed by end-of-life patients. Milford Care Centre is the designated specialist palliative care service provider for Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary. It operates through consultant-led teams of professionals at Milford Hospice in-patient unit in Castletroy, and its Hospice At Home care teams, working in conjunction with doctors and local respite beds, in support bed units across the region. The head of finance at MCC is Cathy Sheehan from Ballynacally. Working with Milford since 1997, she has seen a rapid expansion in the range of services offered in response to growing demands over the past 17 years. “Last year, Milford looked after over 1,500 patients across the region and, with 25% of those …

THERE were 1,263 people signing on the live register at Tulla last month, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office. Clare has four social welfare offices, with Tulla the only one in the east of the county. According to the CSO figures there were 703 males signing on at Tulla, with 101 of them aged under 25. There was a very slight decrease in the number of men signing on during July, with the number down from 707 in June. The number of men on the live register at Tulla is well down on July 2013 when the figure stood at 810. Also in July of this year there were 560 women on the live register, 59 of them aged under 25. The number of women was up on the June figure, which was 539. However it was less than the figure for July 2013, which was 619. The overall figure of 1,263 in July was lower than the equivalent …

An all-island tourism delegation with connections to the only undisputed High King of Ireland, Brian Ború has undertaken a promotional drive at the world’s largest annual festival of Irish culture. Coinciding with the millennial anniversary of Ború’s death at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 National Brian Ború Programme representatives, including adelegation from County Clare, are attending the annual Milwaukee Irish Fest in Wisconsin, USA. The delegation is attempting to lure some of the estimated 150,000 festival goers to County Clare during 2015. Clare artists Sharon Shannon and Socks in the Frying Pan are also performing at the Fest. Ahead of the Milwaukee visit, the Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council Councillor John Crowe met with the Governor of Illinois Pat Quinn and members of the Clare community in Chicago.  

CENTRAL Statistics Office figures show that Shannon had 12,648 flights in all last year, while more than 41% of the airport’s passengers were on their way to or coming from London. Shannon had 1,308,242 passengers in 2013, while this figure does not include the numbers that transited through Shannon, such as US military troops. The figure was up by around three per cent on 2012. While Dublin airports 20.1 million passengers dwarfed the level of traffic at all other Irish airports, Shannon was also a long way below Cork’s 2.25 million. However it was far higher than Knock, which had 665,558 passengers. The most popular route was Shannon-Heathrow, on which 258,250 people travelled. Heathrow is the only European hub to which Shannon has connectivity and many of those travelling on the route would be going to or coming from other parts of the world. London Stansted was the second most popular route, with 183,481 people travelling on it, while 104,736 …

VODAFONE Ireland are seeking retention permission for their infrastructure at Ballyblood, Tulla, but the site notices keep getting taken on them. A letter accompanying their planning application stated, “Following recent repeated removal of site notices in regards to the attached retention application, we have been in contact with the planning department and enclose the following information. 1 We enclose copies of the site notice as erected on 23/07/2014. 2 Letter signed by the local Garda office acknowledging site notices erected etc. The Garda advised if we had similar problems again to contact them, and also noted we did not require an incident number. “Having spoken to the planning dept, we would appreciate receiving some contact/notice, in order to replace any missing notices. As discussed we will maintain a watch on the site notices, however given the problems we have experienced to date, we would appreciate the assistance of the Council, should the notices be missing upon inspection. “Any notices missing …

A Clare man has called for better tracing of victims of Ebola, in order to stop the spread of the disease. Damien Queally, from Inagh, is Deputy Head of Programmes with Plan Ireland in West Africa. He is currently based in Senegal and is co-ordinating Plan Ireland’s response to the virus in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. He was in Guinea back in March when the disease was first detected. In the past week, the death toll from Ebola topped 1,000 and the World Health Organisation declared an international health emergency. However, Mr Queally believes the reaction to Ebola has been too slow. He wants to see concrete action being taken and greater support provided to countries where cases have been confirmed. “It is only hitting the media now but governments should have done much more, the WHO should have done much more and if they had, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” he said. Mr Queally believes tighter border …

MARRIED men could preside over baptisms, weddings, funerals and other Catholic Church ceremonies in Clare in the coming years, after the Bishop of Killaloe opened the door for permanent deacons in the diocese. Deacons, according to Bishop Kieran O’Reilly, “will be ordained to work alongside priests and lay ministers, not to replace them”. Married candidates “must be over 35 years old” and have “the formal consent of his wife, who also participates in the formation programme”. Unmarried men, over the age of 25, may also become deacons but must make “a solemn promise of celibacy”. The move was described by Bishop O’Reilly, in a pastoral letter read in parishes around the county at the weekend, as a “restoration” of the Permanent Diaconate. He is inviting men, who are involved in “pastoral leadership in the diocese and believe that the Lord is calling them to the ministry of the Permanent Diaconate, to present themselves to the diocese and so begin a …

WHEN 78-year-old Michael Sheahan steps from an aeroplane high over Offaly on Saturday, he’ll return to earth with memories of his beloved late wife, Evelyn, flooding his thoughts. Evelyn Ryan, who was from Knockalough, Kilmihil, died last year of a brain aneurysm. All money raised will be donated to the Friends of A, a group formed by family and friends, in memory of former Texas Rose of Tralee contestant, Adrienne Elizabeth Hussey. The fund aids cranial aneurysm research, through the establishment of the University of Limerick Adrienne Hussey Scholarship. “I thought it was going to be 30,000 feet but it’s only 10,000,” Michael replied, when asked how high he had to fly before skydiving back down. “Not at all,” he laughed when a possible fear of heights was broached. Currently, he has raised €7,500 and is aiming to reach €10,000 come the weekend. “Originally, I said it would be great if we raised €5,000 but now we’re aiming for €10,000. …