Shannon

PARTY rivalries were set aside to a certain extent as Shannon Town Council unanimously passed a motion calling on the Government “to review its approach to resolving the country’s financial situation insofar as it is unfairly impacting on the most vulnerable in our society”.

ST Caimin’s Community School pupil Evgeniya Soldatkina achieved the highest mark in Ireland in the Junior Certificate technical graphics exam last June.

THE views of the parents of Shannon children on the patronage of local primary schools are being sought by the Minister for Education, while the six Shannon schools have urged parents to take part and claim much will be lost if there are changes.

THERE were calls for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to closely monitor Shannon’s air quality at this week’s meeting of local area councillors.

WELL-known clinical psychologist David Coleman will be giving a talk on the theme of Helping your Child Navigate the Teenage Years at St Caimin’s on January 24.

  ***The year in review*** AFTER years of delays and controversies, along with expenditure of more than €5 million of taxpayers’ money, a relatively humble 22-bed affordable and step-down housing development was finally completed. The project at Glaise na Rinne was controversial as far back as 2007, before construction ever began, as residents of Cluain Airne claimed the site was inappropriate, as the development was going onto a local green area.Five years later – a period during which the residential property market collapsed, removing the need for specific affordable housing developments – it was finally completed.Of the 22 houses, 16 are affordable housing and the other six are step-down units. The most expensive of the affordable units are priced at €102,000, while an average of €230,000 was spent on providing each house, meaning huge losses.At a council meeting in November, Shannon town manager and Clare County Council director of housing, Bernadette Kinsella gave some details of the expenditure on the …

  ***The year in review*** INDUSTRIAL employment at Shannon remained relatively stable in 2012, while the creation of a new entity to manage the industrial estate and the creation of new incentives for companies to come to the region has given hope for the future. Also, it’s hoped that the Government move to put Enterprise Ireland and the IDA in charge of enterprise development in the Free Zone will lead to job creation.While there weren’t huge job losses, there were some companies who reduced their workforces.Towards the end of January, it emerged that local IT company Avocent was making 13 of its workers redundant.In a statement at the time, the IT company said it was consolidating its operations. “Avocent International Ltd has informed employees at its Shannon facility of plans for a collective redundancy in its operations and sales departments. “This difficult decision is no reflection on the quality of the employees affected by this reduction, who have served the …

LAST week Shannon Town Council awarded a civic reception to the Shannon Order of Malta in recognition of their 40 years of work, while the 2012 Community Grants were allocated and the Liosta na Laochra award winners for 2012 honoured.Liosta na Laochra is a scheme that honours outstanding achievements by local people. Mayor Michael Fleming paid tribute to all who were nominated for the awards and said, “It’s a pity that one or two were missed out on. It’s not down to Shannon Town Council it’s up to people to make a nomination to the council and then we look at it. Unfortunately, there were one or two missed this year but hopefully we’ll get back on top of it next year.”Five of this year’s winners are members of the Shannon Meteors Trampoline Club, Jonas Landrock, Callum Minter, Cillian McMullen, Shannon Minter and Caoimhe Garrett, all of whom were winners at the All-Ireland Trampoline Championships.Athlete Karl Fitzmaurice was honoured after …