Regional

A decade of campaigning and planning for an extension to Barefield National School has borne fruit with last week’s announcement by the Department of Education and Science that the construction phase is due to begin in November.

An Ennis woman who launched a website for high-ability children was honoured at the Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Awards last week.

PLANS for the refurbishment of a local-authority dwelling on the shores of Lough Derg have been delayed once again following concerns by local residents.

WHILE the country is firmly in the grip of recession, there has been at least one positive development, with the news that the new Zimmer plant in Shannon has begun shipping commercial products in recent weeks.

THE Sydney-based parents of three-year-old Bella O’Brien, whose father Noel is from Cooraclare, have expressed both amazement and gratitude for the help and support afforded to them by the people of Cooraclare and the greater West Clare area during the time that Bella was treated for leukaemia.

A South Galway artist is currently the subject of a short documentary being broadcast across Canada. Nicola Corless spoke to Helen Tilston, who splits her time between Florida and Toronto, and has been labelled an accidental environmental painter.  

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Brian Simpson, MEP, the EU’s Head of Transport and Tourism, will join tourism groups from across Ireland at a conference in The Falls Hotel, Ennistymon on the last weekend in November.

The Kilkee-based West Clare Currach Club has been spreading its wings of late. In fact, the club has just finished building a currach in St John’s Parish Hall in Ballyvaughan. Given its location, the North Clare village has a maritime tradition dating back centuries.