North Clare

GROUNDBREAKING research by a team of scientists at NUI Galway led by a North Clare man could result in early detection and better tracking of breast cancer, it was revealed this week.   Kilnamona professor Michael Kerin headed the team that looked at the role of MicroRNAs in breast cancer. For the first time, the work shows that MicroRNAs are measurable in the blood of breast cancer patients and the levels of mir195 in particular, suggests that it is a breast cancer specific tumour marker.  Professor Kerin led the research, presented by Dr Helen Heneghan and co-authored by Dr Nicola Miller and Dr John Newell. The work shows that microRNAs are measurable in the blood of breast cancer patients, that levels of certain miRNAs drop after breast tumours are surgically removed and that mir195 is likely to be a breast cancer specific tumour marker.  The novelty involves a modification of standard techniques allowing these little molecules to be reliably measured …

  AUGUST 2009 was a landmark in the history of Seamount College in Kinvara. The remaining three members of the congregation who founded the school in 1921 moved to Gort, leaving behind the seaside, the school and the community that had meant so much to them.

Review Despite international economic decline and extreme weather conditions in the latter part of the year, 2009 proved very successful for a number of North Clare businesses.

Review Flooding in South Galway and across the country in late November caused widespread disruption and damage. As well as costing millions of euro to local authorities, the deluge resulted in flood damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure, buildings and rendered thousands of acres of farmland inaccessible or unusable. The flooding caused closures of sections of the N18 Galway to Limerick Road and detours were implemented for motorists.

A North Clare councillor has called on the Government to clarify exactly how essential repairs to infrastructure damaged by recent flooding are going to be funded.“I am calling for clarity in relation to exactly what is going to happen. Whatever has been damaged by the flooding needs to be repaired as a matter of urgency and needs to be funded by central Government and not come from council funds and hopefully early in the New Year that clarity will be brought to this issue,” Fine Gael councillor, Martin Conway told The Clare Champion.Asked whether he thought Clare County Council had the money to repair the damaged roads in North Clare and across the county, Councillor Conway said, “The simple answer is ‘no’. This response has to be taken on by central Government.”According to Councillor Conway, the responsibility for repairing the roads damaged by flooding lies with the Government and not with the local authority.“There was a significant amount of damage …

A month on, communities in South Galway are still feeling the effects of the unprecedented flooding in the county.The deputy mayor of County Galway, Councillor Bridie Willers was forced to leave her home one month ago. The Labane woman is still unable to return to her home.“I don’t expect to be back in the house until early in the New Year. It is drying out but we had to put in a new floor. I’m still living in a neighbour’s house,” Bridie explained.Bridie and her family will go to her daughter’s home for Christmas dinner.“In many ways I am looking forward to the year being over. Next year can’t be any worse. I have never been out of my house on Christmas and I would never dream of going away for Christmas,” she continued.“We have to grin and bear it. It is the same for everyone who was evacuated. We have to go on with our lives. I am a …

Building work on Crusheen Railway Station is likely to begin in 2010 if funding applied for by Iarnród Éireann is sanctioned early in the New Year, according to Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley. Iarnród Éireann has submitted a scheme for formal approval to the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and the Clare TD expects that funding will be sanctioned early next year.“This is a major breakthrough in the long-running saga of the opening of a rail station at Crusheen on the Western Rail Corridor. For a number of years now, very considerable effort has been undertaken to ensure that a station at Crusheen would open once more. Now that Iarnród Éireann have been able to put together a viable proposal together with a local developer and Clare County Council, I believe that the construction of the station will begin in the coming year,” deputy Dooley stated.“The dogged effort of the local Crusheen Railway Committee has been instrumental in …

Teachers in a North Clare school will travel to France early next month as part of a European cultural education programme. Two teachers from St Flannan’s National School in Inagh will go to Avignon as part of the Comenius programme, which the school has been taking part in since September.Run by Léargas in Ireland, Comenius seeks to develop knowledge, understanding and appreciation among young people and education staff of the diversity of European cultures and languages. It also aims to help young people acquire basic life skills for their personal development for future employment and active European citizenship. Children from St Flannan’s have been busy since work began on the project at the beginning of the school year learning about their own culture and heritage as well as that of their European counterparts. According to Caroline McGeary, the co-ordinator of Comenius in the school, the project has been time-consuming for the pupils but also integrates well with the overall curriculum.“Our …