Tag Archives: Doonaha

A man has died in a workplace accident that happened shortly after midday today near the village of Doonaha in West Clare. Two units of the Clare County Fire and Rescue Services from Kilkee station along with National Ambulance Service resources were sent to the scene. A Garda spokesman confirmed that gardaí also attended the incident along with a request for the Athlone-based Emergency Aeromedical Service air ambulance to attend. Volunteers from the Kilkee unit of the Irish Coast Guard were tasked to secure a safe landing site for the helicopter, however, the man was pronounced dead at the scene and the helicopter was stood down and returned to its base. The man’s body has been removed to University Hospital Limerick where a post-mortem examination will be carried out. The Garda spokesperson confirmed that the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) will conduct an investigation into the tragedy and that gardaí will assist as required.

THE ongoing depopulation of West Clare is illustrated this week by the fact that three of the most westerly schools in the county are likely to become one-teacher schools, due to dwindling pupil numbers. Doonaha is already a one-teacher school and it is expected that Querrin and Cross will have to operate with one teacher from the start of the new term in the coming days. Cross NS is not expected to take in any new pupil, while Carrigaholt and Kilkee NS are also reported to be taking in very few junior infants. However, both Moveen and Kilbaha are taking in relatively significant numbers of junior infants. Seven are due to start in Kilbaha, which brings the pupil number to 48 in Clare’s most westerly school. Moveen will have eight junior infants, bringing its total school population to an impressive 70. To illustrate the decline in numbers in Cross NS, 33 pupils attended the school in 2009 but that number …