Regional

A YOUNG East Clare native whose photogenic potential was first spotted by The Clare Champion has since appeared in leading magazines including Italian Vogue and Irish Tatler.  Dion Mahoney was snapped, as a young boy, by Champion photographer John Kelly. He and his dad Paul were attending the Brian Ború reenactment at the East Clare Heritage Centre in Tuamgraney in 2005, when they were photographed for the paper.  When Dion recently reminded Paul of that picture, The Champion was fascinated to hear that Dion has been enjoying a high successful career in modelling. As a keen young sportsman, Dion enjoyed regularly playing rugby, soccer and hurling. A student at Scarriff Community College, Dion was in Junior Cert year when sustained a debilitating and recurring injury while on loan to Young Munster Rugby Club from Scarriff Rugby Club. Despite regular physiotherapy and osteopathy sessions, the injury would return after a few matches, requiring yet another period of treatment and rest. It …

A BID to create housing for older members of a religious community in Tuamgraney is back on track, now that the developers have clarified a number of aspects of their plans.  In June of last year, The Christian Community lodged an application to update their existing facilities at Drewsborough, and to create 12 new accommodation units.   According to a design statement submitted with the application, the existing Christian Community Centre is made up of a chapel, priest’s house, visitor accommodation, therapy rooms and associated services. The proposed project would involve the demolition of part of an existing building, the extension of the chapel and the creation of a new accommodation block. The application noted that The Christian Community had been able to obtain a site to the south of its existing centre, opening opportunities to update facilities and to provide accommodation for older people. After an initial assessment of the application, planners wrote to the organisation with an FI …

ENNIS remains in the top ten of Ireland’s cleanest towns and cities. The latest survey by Irish Business Against Litter shows Ennis retaining its Cleaner than European Norms status, falling from third to ninth in the ranking of 40 towns and cities. A sharp fall in the number of litter blackspots across the country has brought an improvement in cities in particular, PPE litter is on the decrease, but the prevalence of coffee cups on our streets warrants action such as a levy, says IBAL. 2022 marks the 20th year of the IBAL litter surveys. The An Taisce report for Ennis stated, “Another very strong performance by Ennis with seven out of ten sites surveyed getting the top litter grade and no heavily littered sites.  All approach routes were top ranking, creating a positive first impression of the town.  This high standard was present at other sites, including Westpoint Retail Park, O’Connell Street and Ennis Recycle Facility – the latter was particularly …

SAINT Tola’s National School marked the recent opening of its class for pupils with multiple disabilities on Thursday of last week. The new facility opened earlier in the year and the class is entitled Aoibhneas, translated to English as ‘joy’. School principal Mary Dunlea Fitzgerald said, “We have opened the new multiple disability class and we’ve got a new prefab. We’re going to be putting a new extension onto the school for the children. “We currently have four pupils enrolled, a fifth starting in September and we’re delighted with the success of the class so far and delighted to meet the needs of very vulnerable pupils within our community.” Speaking about the class, she added, “The children have multiple disabilities so they have challenges in relation to communication and movement and daily living skills. “Typically children with these sorts of disabilities would have gone to a special school and being able to provide the facility in a mainstream setting and …

WARM tributes have been paid to the late William McLysaght, co-founder of the Raheen Hospital Support Group, as preparations get underway for the official launch of a new extension.  Last Wednesday, support group members, politicians and staff of Raheen Community Hospital were briefed on a Phase 2 extension, which contains six new bedrooms and other facilities. Contracts were also signed for works to upgrade kitchen facilities. These are set to get underway shortly.  Cathaoirleach of the Killaloe Municipal District, Councillor Joe Cooney said that Mr McLysaght, from Raheen, Tuamgraney, had been instrumental in developments at the community nursing unit.  “William did Trojan work for the support group and for the hospital,” he said. “All of the improvements couldn’t have been achieved without the support group or without William. He did fantastic work and was dedicated and generous with his time and energy.” With the second phase of expansion of the hospital due to be launched officially, Councillor Cooney paid tribute …

A WEST Clare patient was directed to seek GP out-of-hours treatment outside their own catchment area, a local councillor has claimed. Speaking at a recent HSE West Forum meeting, Councillor Cillian Murphy said he was contacted by a person in West Clare who stated they were directed to other centres in Ennis, Limerick or Nenagh instead of Kilrush. “If you want to shut a service in an area, the easiest thing to do is to refer people onto another service in a different area. This reduces your client base for the service in the area.” He said it is not good enough to expect people in West Clare to drive to Miltown for an out-of-hours GP service when the Kilrush centre is not operational. He proposed there should be some way of improving this service for West Clare patients. Speaking to the Clare Champion, he said it takes longer to travel from Kildysart to Miltown than it is to go …

SEVEN decades after the discovery of Doolin Cave one of the original cavers who made this amazing find returned to North Clare at the weekend to help mark the momentous anniversary. Doolin Cave has celebrated its 70th birthday marking its discovery by cavers, Brian Varley and J M (Mike) Dickenson in 1952. Brian, who celebrates his 90th birthday this year, returned to Doolin where a commemorative plaque acknowledging the cavers’ achievement was unveiled. Helen Browne, proprietor of Doolin Cave Visitor Centre with husband John, explained that the plaque has been placed on the way into the cave so everybody who visits will be able to share in Brian and Mike’s story and the hard work which led to their great discovery. “It was very special for us to be able to welcome Brian to Doolin Cave, he is such an amazing character. We were honoured to have him return to the cave to unveil a plaque dedicated to him and …

THE Shannon Summer Music Festival will take place on this Saturday, June 11, in the Town Park.  It is being organised by Chris Walshe and he said there will be something for all age groups on the day. “It starts at 2pm and from 2-6pm we’ll have children’s entertainment. We’ll have face painting, balloon modellers, kiddies disco and we’ll have a DJ. From 6pm on it’ll be live music on the main stage in the Park.” All of the acts during the evening are local. “First up we have the Kirby brothers, then we have Adam Moloney, then we have a band called North of Fortitude, then we’ve a band called the Mangled Badgers. “The last band then, the headliners, is a band called Sticky September. You might know the bands One September and Sticky Fingers. The two of those are joining forces for the evening.” It is the first major outdoor event in the town for several years and …