Regional

THERE has been shock throughout east and south Galway after the death of Kate Moran, following a freak incident in a camogie match in Ardrahan on Monday evening. A candlelit vigil is to be held on Wednesday evening at 9pm in Kenny Park GAA grounds in Athenry. In a post on its Facebook page on Tuesday Athenry camogie club said, “Today we learned of the death of our dear club-mate, Kate Moran. “This is a terrible tragedy for her family, our club and our community. We are deeply saddened by these events. “Our sympathy and thoughts are with the Moran family and friends. Kate will be greatly missed by all who knew her. “Kate began playing with Athenry Camogie Club at underage level and quickly progressed to Senior A level with great distinction. “She holds a Feile, Minor County and Intermediate County title. She played in a club All Ireland Intermediate final. She won two All Irelands at U16 level …

LISCANNOR is set to host a singing competition this weekend between teams from four pubs all in honour of a great local entertainer. This battle of the bars will take place on April 23 in memory of Michael “Loxy” Thynne with four local pubs putting together teams of patrons to rehearse a handful of songs and compete for the aptly-named Loxy Cup. Thynne passed away in 2013, but is fondly remembered locally for his love of singing, regarding himself as the finest singer in Europe with an extensive repertoire of three or four songs, according to his son Michael. Michael said: “Putting it mildly, my dad was fond of a sweet sherry or two. He was called Loxy because of his facial hair, and he would spend his days going between the four public houses, until he had reached his limit. “He was, without doubt, the worst singer in North Clare. The only person who didn’t know this was Loxy.” …

A PROJECT to explore the improvement that growing hemp could have on soil quality has been launched in West Clare. Community-based local development and farming forum Loop Head Together launched its Hemp4Soil project with the aim to vastly improve overall soil quality and benefit local biodiversity. Based on the west Clare peninsula the group has organised the experimental project in conjunction with Hemp Co-Operative Ireland and Teagasc, the first of its kind in Europe. The results could potentially help create sustainable income streams for the farmers involved, as well as providing a product from which offshoots could inspire local industry. Margaret Cotter, speaking on behalf of Clare County Council’s Rural and Community Department, said, “This is a wonderful demonstration of how a small rural community can lead the way in research and real-life practice for climate initiatives and potential carbon sequestration.” Hemp4Soil intends to use regenerative farming techniques to improve the life of soil via soil remediation, microbial life and …

Planning permission has been granted for a pet crematorium in Ennis – despite objections from a sole mystery objector living 141 miles away. An Bord Pleanala has now cleared the way for Ennis couple, Aimee and Danny Keller to build their pet crematorium at a unit at Gort Road Business Park in Ennis. However, the project has been delayed by four months after an appeal was lodged against the Clare County Council grant of permission last November by a ‘Don Weldon’ from Navan, Co Meath. In a response to the appeal by planning consultants for the Kellers, P Coleman & Associates raised questions with An Bord Pleanala if ‘Don Weldon’ is a real person. The address provided by ‘Don Weldon’ is a numbered house at Ros na Ri, Commons Rd, Navan, Co Meath. A desk top legal investigation carried out for Aimee and Danny Keller on the person purporting to be Don Weldon determined that the numbered Ros na Ri …

AFTER 29 years and after placing a huge number of people in jobs, Shannon company Peach Recruitment is closing down. Since the start it has been run by Derek Barrett, a well known figure in Shannon, and he said he really enjoyed the experience. “It was a great business to be in, because ultimately we were helping people. The amount of people we placed in this town has been fantastic. We were always delighted to do that. “There were others we couldn’t place, but we always tried to help them, whether that was improving their CV or giving them career advice.” We always tried to do right by the jobseekers. They were always the number one priority, I know people would say the client, the employer is the primary one, but we would have taken a view that if we get it right for the candidate it all works out. If you get it wrong, it doesn’t work out for …

WHEN Ennis held its first Relay for Life event on 23 June 2018, the committee was “blown away” by the community support. Since 2018, the generosity continued helping Relay for Life Ennis raise over €100,000 for the Irish Cancer Society through two live events and two virtual events. County Clare will get another chance to show their support this year as Relay for Life Ennis returns on June 18 and 19 at Tim Smythe Park.  Auriol Considine, Relay for Life Ennis chairperson comments, “We never imagined this event would be an instant success and this is down to the support we have received from the community. “Our main aim was to create an event where we could come together united against cancer to celebrate life, remember loved ones lost to the disease, and fight back against cancer by raising awareness. The fact that our team participants have raised that much money to support cancer patients and their families is amazing!” …

BOAT users have been advised to carry up to date charts and stick to main navigation channels in the wake of a cruiser running aground in Lough Derg. Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat came to the aid of a lone skipper on 30ft cruiser that had run aground, inside Red Island on the south-western County Clare shore on Sunda evening. At 8.03pm Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat Jean Spier launched with helm Eleanor Hooker, Owen Cavanagh, Joe O’Donoghue and Ciara Moylan on board. At 8.18pm the lifeboat had the casualty vessel in sight; it was located inside Red Island, north of Holy Island. Aware of an extended shoal inside Red Island, an RNLI volunteer took soundings off the bow and, using on board electronic navigation, crew plotted a safe course to the casualty vessel. At 8.21pm RNLI crew noted that the skipper on the casualty vessel was signaling with a light, waving and calling to them. Unable to make out what he …

GARDAI are seeking witnesses to a very serious assault that took place last week at Francis Street in Ennis. At 2.20pm on Monday April 11, a black car (Opel Insignia) bearing false plates 02 D 69360 travelled from the Clonroad direction down Francis Street. It stopped outside Tesco and the boot was opened, it continued down Francis Street and reversed into the private car park on the town side of a premises opposite Causeway link road. Five hooded males exited the car armed with weapons and went into a business premises where they seriously assaulted a male. They ran back out to the car, got in and the car turned left onto Francis Street and went in the direction of Clonroad. It is unknown where it went from there. The man received serious injuries to his head and arms and received treatment at University Hospital Limerick. A garda spokesperson said, “From viewing cctv cameras several members of the public witnessed …