Regional

AN Ennis project delivered by Irish Water in partnership with Clare County Council has been shortlisted as a finalist for the prestigious Water Industry Awards, which celebrate excellence across the water sector in Ireland and Britain. The optimisation work and improvements to the treatment process undertaken at Ennis North Wastewater Treatment Plant made the final shortlist in the ‘Asset Optimisation Initiative of the Year’ category. Teams from Irish Water and Clare County Council worked closely together to deliver this project which resulted in significant improvements in the performance and sustainability of the plant, serving a population of 25,000. As a result of this work, the energy consumed at the plant was reduced by 53%, or the equivalent of 789,000 kiloWatt hours per annum. Noise issues at the plant were also addressed, while its overall capacity was increased. The Ennis project is one of six Irish Water projects to be shortlisted for an award. Niall Gleeson, Managing Director of Irish Water, …

A NORTH Clare student is proving he is up to scratch when it comes to computer technology. Tom Dandoy, a third year coding student at CBS Ennistymon has been presented with an award in the National Scratch Coding Competition after developing his very own computer game. Tom’s game Spaceship Battles 3 is the final game in a trilogy that he has developed using Scratch programming which he has been learning in school. He was one of 34 finalists from 215 entrants in the competition which is being held as part of Technology Week, a nationwide festival of technology driven events aimed at students, parents and the public. On Wednesday the winners of the competition were announced, with Tom receiving an award for ‘Best Technical Sophistication” after impressing the judges with his game. Tom has been learning Scratch programming for game design at Ennistymon CBS since first year in his coding class with teacher Sean Murphy. All Junior Cycle students in …

NEW Directions, Maps and Journeys are the themes of Poetry Day and the inspiration behind a project being undertaken by Mountshannon Arts, as the community organisation reflects on its 25-year history. Poetry Day takes place on Thursday, April 29. Poet Róisín Bugler notes that it will also mark the first outing this year for Moutshannon Arts, whose festival has been inspiring and entertaining audiences from East Clare and far further afield, for a quarter of a century. “We are still curtailed by Covid-19,” Róisín said, “but Poetry Day will be our first opportunity to showcase Mountshannon Arts this year on the 25th anniversary of the festival. “We’ve been doing something a little different for Poetry Day and this year people have been responding to the popular and beautiful local art trail.” This ‘ekphrastic’ poetry project – where one art work is inspired by another – has been embraced enthusiastically, with inspiring results. “Ordinarily, I would put out a general call …

EARTH Day is celebrated each year on April 22. Established in 1970, the objective of this global campaign is to highlight environmental issues around the world, and how local communities are getting involved to provide solutions. So what does Earth Day mean to the Burren? The Burren Ecotourism Network has joined forces with other community groups in the region to tackle head-on the crisis of litter management. “We have taken inspiration from Earth Day to launch an awareness campaign to better manage and ultimately prevent litter in the Burren,” states Jarlath O’Dwyer, CEO of the Burren Ecotourism Network. “We are looking at a variety of approaches including organised clean-ups, pro-active social media campaigns as well as working with Clare County Council and established networks such as Clean Coasts and Leave No Trace.” The members of the Burren Ecotourism Network have been focused on keeping their local patches litter free over the years through the Adopt a Hedge Row and this …

THE skin on his hands may be sore and blistered, but for Michael Casey it has all been worth it. The Ennis man has raised more than €10,000 for the ISPCC’s Childline by recently completing 100 pull ups every day for 100 days. And on his final day, he decided to make the challenge even more difficult by doing 800 pull-ups, including 300 with added weights. He explains that he chose to do 800 reps on his final day to represent the 800 children and young people who contact Childline every day. He took on 500 pull ups using his own body weight, another 200 with 10kg attached, 80 more with 20kg and his last 20 reps with 25kg attached. Speaking to the Clare Champion after completing the mammoth endeavour he says, “That was tough, by the end of it I was just doing two reps at a time. Physically that was the hardest part of the whole thing. “I’d …

SHANNON Technical Services, an Irish-owned aviation company based in Shannon, has announced that it will create 80 new jobs by the end of 2023. 57 of the new jobs are supported by Enterprise Ireland. The aviation company currently employs 40 people at its Shannon office and has utilised over 130 aviation technical consultants globally in Q1 2021. It will increase headcount to 60 by the end of 2021, 100 by the end of 2022, and upwards to 120 by 2023. The new roles will be across Operations, Commercial, Administration and Aviation Technical Services. As part of the controlled expansion, Shannon Technical Services (STS) will also be opening a new office in Dublin. Founded in February 2019, the company’s services include management of aircraft transitions, redeliveries, CAMO, engine management, and materials and logistics management for global aircraft lessors and airlines. Welcoming the announcement, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar, TD said, “Covid-19 has had a devastating impact …

Peter Lacey’s cache of photographs from the 1930s to the ‘60s have only recently seen the light, reports Dan Danaher. MEMORIES of learning to swim at Pier Head, Killaloe have come flooding back for numerous people in the twin communities after a treasure trove of “gold” negatives were developed by the local historical society. Peter Lacey, who was elected at the first Lord Mayor of Killaloe and Ballina in 1980, taught hundreds of people in the locality how to swim, despite the fact he wasn’t a strong swimmer. A keen photographer, he also took countless photographs of people and places in the riverside communities. The negatives of old photographs extending from the ‘30s into the ‘60s were kept in a small Major cigarette box. Even though the negatives are very small, Killaloe Ballina Historical Society secretary, Deborah Dudgeon managed to find a way to bring them back to life through digital processing and has circulated them on social media. Deborah …

Plans to honour group that has been instrumental in Clare’s cultural life ‘when the time is right’ THE instrumental role that the Ennis Brass Band have played in the county has been highlighted this week with plans now underway to celebrate their 50th anniversary. Local representatives in the Ennis Municipal District have agreed to mark the historic anniversary, however because of Covid-19 it is unclear when the celebration will take place and what form it will take. Councillor Ann Norton, at the monthly meeting of the local authority, proposed that the band be honoured for “their work and dedication to the town and county”. The motion was widely agreed with tributes paid to the work of those involved in the band. Putting forward the motion, Councillor Norton said she was “very conscious of the fact we are in a pandemic” but she believed it was appropriate to bring to the attention of the Council that the Ennis Brass Band is …