Tag Archives: clare

SMALL primary schools facing the threat of losing a teacher due to falling numbers have been given some breathing space this week, as a result of a decision by Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan. Affecting schools mainly in rural parishes, new retention regulations will give a slightly improved pupil/teacher ratio in two to four-teacher school scenarios. Nationally, close on 60% of primary schools have four teachers or less. Minister O’Sullivan revealed that the new retention schedule for the 2015/16 school year will be 19 pupils, rather than 20, to retain a second teacher; 53 pupils, rather than 56, to retain a third teacher and 83 pupils, rather than 86, to retain a fourth teacher. While generally supportive of the decision to reduce the number of pupils required to retain teachers in small schools, Labasheeda National School principal, Liam Woulfe, said the change “will not greatly aid two-teacher schools”. Following two appeals, Labasheeda was able to show that it had the required …

By Seamus Hayes The centre forward position on the Clare team, named on Saturday evening, to play Galway in the opening round of the Allianz hurling league (division 1 A) at Pearse Stadium this Sunday afternoon has been left vacant. It was widely anticipated that Ballyea’s Tony Kelly would be selected to lead the attack but the U. L. student is one of eight panelists named as being unavailable for this game due to injury. Also ruled out are David McInerney, Peter Duggan, Darach Honan, Nicky O’Connell, Jamie Shanahan, Davy O’Halloran and Eoin Enright. Clarecastle’s Bobby Duggan is believed to be in the running to fill the vacancy while Conor McGrath, a surprising omission from the starting line up, is also believed to be in contention. The team named is Patrick Kelly; Domhnaill O’Donovan, Cian Dillon, Jack Browne; Conor Cleary, Conor Ryan, Pat O’Connor; Brendan Bugler, Colin Ryan; Pat Donnellan, A.N.\ Other, Colm Galvin; John Conlon, Shane O’Donnell, David Reidy.

EVERY county has massive ambitions heading into the 2015 National Hurling League, according to Galway boss, Anthony Cunningham. He pointed out that Kilkenny are league and All-Ireland champions; Clare will want to come back and repeat what they did in 2013; Tipperary want to pick up from where they left off in September; Cork are the Munster champions; Limerick were very unfortunate not to beat Kilkenny last year, while Galway were very close to Tipperary and Kilkenny. “There will be no easy games in what will be a very competitive league,” he pointed out as he looked ahead to this Sunday’s opening league tie when the Tribesmen will entertain Clare at Pearse Stadium. “We will probably be stronger in the second half of the league. At present, we have a good few injuries and we are unlikely to see players such as Davy and Niall Burke, Conor Cooney and Joe Canning before March. Five or six of our players have …

ALL-Ireland final hero from 2013, Domhnall O’Donovan looks set to be named at corner-back, the  position he starred in two years ago, for Sunday’s opening game in this season’s league campaign against Galway at Pearse Stadium in Salthill. The Clonlara man’s absence from the 2014 championship side was one of the big talking points of the year. He has played in most of their games to date this year and has impressed. Darach Honan, Peter Duggan and Jamie Shanahan won’t play any part in this weekend’s game and are unlikely to see much action in the coming weeks due to injury. The team to take on Galway is expected to be along the lines of that which faced Waterford in a behind-closed-doors challenge game in Sixmilebridge last Saturday night. David McInerney and Brendan Bugler didn’t start that game but both are expected to feature this week. Saturday’s challenge ended in a draw, 4-18 for Waterford to Clare’s 3-21. The home county led …

SHANNON and Cork can have guarantees of Heathrow connectivity for five years if IAG buys the State’s share in Aer Lingus, its CEO Willie Walsh pledged at today’s meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. Clare political figures have expressed concern about the possibility of Shannon losing its vital connectivity to Heathrow in the event of a takeover, but Mr Walsh insisted that the guarantee he is offering is far better than what the airport actually has already. He also claimed that while the concern is at one level understandable, it is actually misplaced, given that the route is profitable. Indeed, he went so far as to say that the current Aer Lingus management could not match the IAG guarantee without drawing the ire of some of the shareholders. While he said IAG is happy to give the guarantees and that there is no reason to pull away from what is a profitable route, he stressed that he will not give …

ENNIS councillors have called for garda numbers in Clare to be restored, following a drop in strength of one sixth of the force since 2010. Despite the drop in garda numbers, the Mayor of Ennis Municipal District (EMD) has congratulated Superintendent Derek Smart from the Ennis Garda District on what he described as “probably the best work done in the country”, following a crackdown by gardaí on moneylenders targeting vulnerable people. The figures on the fall in garda numbers were outlined to Ennis Municipal District (EMD) councillors by Superintendent Smart during a quarterly meeting at County Hall. He said, since 2010, 53 gardaí have retired, two have died and a further two resigned. In the past two months, two more gardaí have retired and three have commenced three-year incentivised career breaks, with four more to take this up before April 1, and another due for transfer. As a result, Garda numbers in the Clare division are down by 53, or …

CLARE County Council has passed a motion calling on the Government not to dispose of its 25.1% share in Aer Lingus. At a special meeting of the local authority on Monday afternoon, the members passed the motion unanimously, while efforts are to be made to get other local authorities in the region to take a similar stand. There have been fears that if the proposed IAG takeover of Aer Lingus proceeds that Shannon will lose its Heathrow connectivity and several of the members called on Clare’s Oireachtas members to make sure this does not happen. Councillor Pat McMahon said that a future loss of connectivity would “choke future investment in Clare and the surrounding counties”, while Councillor Cathal Crowe warned that Shannon’s industrial base could be reduced to “large empty warehouses if these slots go”. Calls for the retention of the State’s holding weren’t confined to the Fianna Fáil members, with Fine Gael’s Mary Howard saying she would “be very, …

(Peter O’Connell) Clare 1-16 Wexford 0-5 CLARE made a superb start to their NFL division 3 league campaign, beating Wexford by 14 points in Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown on Sunday afternoon. Led by Gary Brennan, who dominated midfield and David Tubridy, who kicked 0-10 from play and frees, Clare were much sharper than Wexford who had Ciaran Lyng red carded three minutes into the second half. The David Power managed Wexford men also had midfielder Paddy Byrne and substitute Simon Donohue black carded. Clare led 0-8 to 0-3 at half largely thanks to five David Tubridy points, four of which the Doonbeg man kicked from frees won by Shane Hickey (two), Pat Burke and Tubridy himself. In addition Jamie Malone, Shane Brennan and Shane Hickey kicked a point each from play in that opening half. However two pivotal first half incidents in that opening period, both involved Clare goalkeeper Joe Hayes. The Lissycasey man saved twice inside two minutes. First …