Tag Archives: clare

ST Flannan’s students this week jetted off to the States where they will present designs for a space settlement at the International Space Development Conference (ISDC). The Ennis students received the VIP treatment at Shannon Airport, which is sponsoring their flight to Washington DC after the group won the NASA Ames Space Settlement Contest to design an inhabitable settlement in space. As previously reported in The Clare Champion, the “Mag Mell” settlement was designed by fifth year physics students, Naem Haq, Adam Downes, Cian Pyne, Jack O’Connor and Garabhan Monahan. Speaking from Shannon Airport ahead of their flight to Washington, their physics teacher John Conneely said, “This is a wonderful opportunity. We are so proud of our students for winning the grand prize out of 17,000 students from 22 countries.  We are incredibly grateful to Shannon Airport for the support. “It is quite fitting that we are travelling from Shannon to the International Space Development Conference. Our students were thrilled to …

AN Ennis man who recently returned from a humanitarian mission helping Ukrainians flee the war with Russia is this week embarking on a fundraising mission a little closer to home. This Saturday John Casey, founder of the Tesla Owners Group in Ireland and fellow electric vehicle enthusiast ex international rugby player Peter Bracken, will be setting off on a mammoth trip around Clare to raise funds for the Banner GAA. They will visit every GAA club in the county on their journey of more than 550km. John explains that as well as raising money for capital development at the club the trip will also help challenge the perception that electric vehicles cannot travel long ranges. “There are 52 GAA clubs in County Clare and the distance to be covered is approximately 550km starting and finishing at the Banner GAA grounds in Ennis. We will be travelling to the four corners of the county from Naomh Eoin in the West to …

CLARE parents of children with Cystic Fibrosis have told of their fears for their childrens’ future if they cannot access a “miracle” drug at the centre of a dispute between the Health Service Executive and a pharmaceutical company. Cystic Fibrosis Ireland estimate that around 140 children aged six-years-old to 11-years-old are already are on the drug Kaftrio, but 35 children with a particular genotype are not as they are outside the 10-year Portfolio Agreement that was signed by the HSE and Vertex in 2017. Emma Fitzpatrick from Sixmilebridge is mother to eight-year-old James and says the drug would mean “everything” to their family, improving her son’s quality of life. She was “devastated” when she received a call from James’ consultant to say that he would not be getting the drug. “Literally you have your fingertips on this miracle – and it is a miracle to us. It is not a cure, but it’s the nearest we will ever get to …

AN exploration of the Gaelic songs of County Clare has unearthed 130 songs, with that figure continuing to grow. The outcome of the project, carried out by actor, writer and director Diarmuid de Faoite titled Dúchas is Dóchas (Heritage and Hope), will be launched by the Clare Arts Office and The Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) this Saturday in Cultúrlann Sweeney, Kilkee. The work was done as part of the third Duala: Creator-in-Residence Scheme. “It wasn’t today nor yesterday that the people of County Clare fell in love with music and the county has a deserved reputation in the field of traditional music,” said de Faoite. “Despite this reputation, however, songs in Irish are rarely heard and even rarer still are songs in Irish from the county, save the ubiquitous ‘Beidh Aonach Amárach’,” he noted. “Though the music has been preserved and enriched, our voice was lost quite suddenly and traumatically with the rapid loss of language” he added, posing …

PRESIDENT of Ireland Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina will visit Ennis this Saturday where they will pay tribute to all those behind the county capital’s success in being named Ireland’s Tidiest Town in 2021. The couple will attend a ceremony at President Higgins’ former secondary school of St Flannan’s College and during the visit he will unveil a plaque marking Ennis’ win in the national competition. Ennis Tidy Towns’ chairman Cormac McCarthy tells us that the local committee are “over the moon” to be hosting the president and his wife. He reveals that the ceremony will be particularly focused on the important role that the local community had in securing the win for Ennis. “It’s going to be a wonderful event and we have had great support in the organisation from St Flannan’s College, where the president went to secondary school, as well as getting logistical support from the Ennis Municipal District which is very appreciated.” Ennis Tidy …

CAR hire prices at Shannon Airport are six times more expensive than tourists arriving at Madrid will face, and more than twice as pricey as in London. On Wednesday afternoon, going through the Shannon website, the cheapest car rental for the sample period June 10-17 was €1106.87. For an SUV for the same period the cost was €1,991.97. In contrast, someone travelling to Madrid and hiring a vehicle for the same period would face equivalent prices of €158.02 for a small car or €258 for an SUV. At Heathrow the prices quoted were €512 and €767.82. Obviously the huge disparity in prices puts Ireland at a serious competitive disadvantage, and Lahinch hotelier Michael Vaughan said that it is damaging the country’s reputation as a place to visit. “People are feeling really badly about it and we’re getting a very bad image.” He said he recently spoke to one person from North America who was struggling to arrange transport for a …

AN announcement by the Minister of Health that the HPV vaccine is to be made available free of charge to all women under 25 has been welcomed by the family of the late Laura Brennan. Since Laura’s passing three years ago the Brennan family have fought tirelessly to increase awareness of, and access to, the life saving vaccine. The Brennans are now stepping away from the campaign with Laura’s father Larry saying, “As a family we feel that we have achieved what we set out to do.” Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has written to the HSE telling it to outline a vaccination programme for women, as well as a catch-up programme for girls and boys in secondary school who missed out for various reasons including the pandemic. In a message posted on social media confirming the move, Minister Donnelly paid tribute to Laura, who died from cervical cancer in 2019, and the Brennan family. “Our goal it to eradicate …

No tickets are currently available for the Munster Hurling Final after the 11,000 put on general sale this morning were all bought in a mere 11 minutes. All stand tickets and some for the terraces were allocated to clubs earlier in the week, meaning that only a portion of the terrace tickets were put on sale this morning. Yesterday, some of the county’s clubs had announced that the allocations they received were not sufficient to cover the demand from their members, such is the level of interest in what will be the first Clare-Limerick Munster final since 1995. While Clare GAA has been beset by infighting for the last couple of years, the performances of the hurlers this year have been outstanding, and supporters have backed the team in large numbers, with an attendance of over 16,000 at Cusack Park last Sunday, the vast majority backing Clare, even though the Banner had already qualified for the Munster final. With Limerick …