Shannon

A CLARE-BASED tech company, which has been dubbed ‘Tinder For Jobs’, has won a top business award, writes Owen Ryan. Get The Shifts, which offers an on-demand staffing platform to hospitality businesses, has been named as Most Innovative Temporary Staffing Solutions Provider 2021 in the EU Business News Irish Enterprise Awards. The award highlights the continued success of Get the Shifts as they deliver high quality, experienced staff to clients for shift work with as little as three hours’ notice. The EU Business News Awards recognise “exemplary Irish business demonstrating outstanding levels of excellence, customer service and innovation.” In making their selection, the EU Business News Irish Enterprise Award considered Get the Shifts’ achievements under various criteria such as business performance, longevity, business growth and any significant innovations. Speaking about the award, Hannah Wrixon, General Manager of Get the Shifts said, “We are absolutely delighted and honoured to have been recognised by EU Business News for this award. “It is …

THE position of chair of Shannon Group is to be advertised once more, following February’s fiasco when a candidate was announced and then stepped down within hours. Aaron Forde had been announced as the appointee, before the emergence of several offensive tweets by the former head of agri business Aurivo emerged. There had been some uncertainty about what would happen next, but an email to Clare TD Joe Carey from Transport Minister Eamon Ryan’s office this week sought to clarify the situation. The email stated, “Minister Ryan and Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton have agreed to launch a new campaign with the Public Appointments Service (PAS) and the minister has requested that this process be concluded as expeditiously as possible. “Department officials are currently engaging with PAS on progressing this new campaign and the department expects to receive clarity from PAS regarding the proposed dates and timeline for this competition in the very near future,” the email stated. Deputy Carey …

MYSTERY surrounds the disappearance of the Fairy Doors that had been attached to trees on the River Walk, on the forest stretch between Illaunmanagh and Cluain Airne, reports Owen Ryan. The disappearance of the doors has disappointed those involved in making the doors, as well as the local children who enjoyed the installations. “We put them up there two years ago, the Men’s Shed made them, they were painted at the creches and the Tidy Towns put them up, said Derek Clune, of Shannon Men’s Shed and Tidy Towns. “We had to put them up fairly high, because if we put them too low we felt they could be vandalised. We had a ladder and I’d say they were eight feet off the ground and they were screwed in,” he added. He has no doubt that it is not a simple case of vandalism, because removing the Fairy Doors isn’t that simple. “It seems to me that whoever took them …

STAFF members of a Chinese restaurant in Shannon bravely challenged a robber carrying a knife, who then fled the scene empty handed. At approximately 10pm on Saturday night, April 17 a teenager wearing a black hoody, black face mask and carrying a knife entered the Shannon Palace Chinese Restaurant in Tullyvarraga, Shannon. He demanded money from the staff member, who ran to the back of the restaurant. According to Crime Prevention Officer, Sergeant Triona Brooks, “This male was challenged by other members of staff and left the scene empty handed. Thankfully nobody was injured in this robbery. “We are asking for the assistance of the public in this investigation. If anyone was in the vicinity of the restaurant and saw this male or anyone who may have dash cam footage please contact Shannon Garda Station on 061 365900.”

PAUL Truss has just marked 20 years of service with the Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter, Rescue 115. A winch operator, he is from England originally, and explaining how he ended up working over here, he says, “I was in the Royal Navy, did 15 years flying in the Royal Navy, mostly anti submarine warfare, but I spent the last ten years in Prestwick which was anti-submarine warfare and search and rescue. When I left the Navy there was a job vacancy here in Ireland, so I put in for it, came over for the interview and started in April 2001.” Working with the Coast Guard means coming face to face with life and death situations on a fairly regular basis and Paul says the goal is to save as many people as is possible. “There have been numerous jobs where lives have been saved. Unfortunately not all lives can be saved, but that’s what we strive for,” said Paul. While …

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 …

WHILE over €4 million has been announced for Ennis under the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, the second largest town in Clare wasn’t successful. It has left a sour taste in Shannon, where recent years have seen persistent complaints that the town does not have the facilities that a town of around 10,000 people and with a huge industrial base should have. It is hard to think of any major projects in the town that have been completed in recent years with the exception of Shannon Town Park, which opened in 2019 at a cost of €1.5 million. There are also plans for a future new community sports hub. There is no doubt that the centre of Ennis is already a far more attractive place than the equivalent area in Shannon, which still doesn’t have a conventional streetscape and local independent councillor Gerry Flynn said that the failure to get anything from the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund is another …

ALTHOUGH Aer Lingus is in receipt of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme, it has announced it will lay off 129 in-flight service and ground operations staff at Shannon, from next Monday until June 7. One cabin crew worker said that the move to solely lay off the Shannon staff, despite excess staff at all its bases, shows a long-standing anti-Shannon attitude at a senior level in Aer Lingus. “We’re just getting targeted all the time, this is the second time we’ve been targeted just since the pandemic. There’s a surplus at every base, every single base and we’re the most senior cabin crew in Aer Lingus, but yet we’re the ones being laid off,” he said. Management have not revealed how much money will be saved by the move, but with the airline receiving State support, it will not be particularly significant. “It’s not any amount of money that’s going to close the company. They targeted one specific group, which …