Tag Archives: Kilrush

TWO Clare towns have been named in the running to be crowned Ireland’s most enterprising town. Both Ennis and Kilrush are among the finalists announced for Bank of Ireland’s Begin Together Awards 2020. This year, the awards recognise business and community groups who have come together to support their local area as they start to rebuild and recover from the impact of COVID-19. Ennis is a finalist in the large towns category, with a population of over 14,000 and are facing Sligo in the finals. A spokesperson for Ennis Chamber said they are “delighted” to have made it to the finals adding the town is “up for the challenge”. Ennis is joined in the finals by Kilrush which is in the 2,001-4,000 population category facing Carndonagh, County Donegal. A total awards prize fund of over €200,000 is available to finalists to help reboot local economies across the island of Ireland. 21 awards are involved with the overall winner receiving €50,000 …

THE remote working revolution prompted by the Coronavirus pandemic would have been impossible to predict at the start of this year. A life-time ago, back in January, working away from the office was still a fairly fuzzy concept for most of us, tied in with worthy but not-always-attainable aims like reducing our carbon footprint, cutting down on daily commuting and achieving a better work-life balance. Now that we have all been thrown into reality of having to meet our work commitments without venturing into crowded offices, finding an appropriate space for remote working has become a real challenge. Kitchen tables across the country have been acting as board room bases for video conferences, while serving as virtual classrooms at the same time – not always with harmonious, or productive results. In Clare, thanks to a synergy of two key departments, the local authority has been better able than many of its counterparts to respond to the surge in demand for …

KILRUSH and Scariff are to be included as venues for a youth festival taking place at the end of August to celebrate maritime arts, heritage and culture. Scairt na hÓige is being organised by the Local Creative Youth Partnership (LCYP) of Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board (LCETB) and will also take in locations around the Shannon Estuary including Foynes and Limerick City. The youth participation festival takes the Shannon waterway as its inspiration and will feature workshops in a range of art forms and maritime culture. Music Generation Clare and Music Generation Limerick City, both partners in the festival, will deliver workshops and performances in Kilrush and Foynes against the backdrop of the magnificently restored historic ship ‘Ilen’, when it sails into the lower Shannon, mooring in each harbour town for two days. “Over the course of the ‘Ilen’ visit, Kilrush Marina and Foynes Yacht Club will become animated with workshops in music, dance and story as well …

Several libraries across the county reopened this morning in accordance with Phase 3 of the revised Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business. They include De Valera Library in, Ennis and those in Kilrush, Kilkee, Miltown Malbay, Ennistymon and Shannon. Other libraries will be opening shortly once the necessary preparatory work has been completed with update on the Clare County Library website and social media pages. Libraries will provide limited services initially, including limits on the numbers accessing the facility at any one time. Libraries will operate in compliance with current physical distancing guidelines and the public are encouraged to use hand sanitisers upon entry to library buildings. Library visits will be of a maximum 15 minutes’ duration and services will include borrow and return of books, printing facilities, delivery service for those cocooning, online services and children’s services including the 2020 Summer Stars programme. The contact and collect service will continue in the other branches and will commence in a …

WITH West Clare’s tourism sector set for a difficult spell ahead, the future of Moneypoint is particularly critical to the region’s economy. Kilrush based county councillor Ian Lynch said that the slow progress in establishing what the future will hold is very frustrating. “The momentum has been taken out of the economy and we have spent years discussing how Moneypoint can be a key stimulus to it. There are several opportunities out there that we’re just not allowed to explore because the ESB aren’t willing to open the deepwater port. I think a couple of weeks ago the ESB said that the possibility of Moneypoint being shut down in the near future is becoming more likely. I don’t believe that because I do think it’ll always be there as a back-up, there would still be maintenance, but the amount of shifts would be minimal in the year. ESB management aren’t willing to open up the port for reuse, they’re talking …

Independent Deputy Michael McNamara plans to raise the use of perspex to screen visitors from patients in residential care facilities with Health Minister Simon Harris. While Deputy McNamara accepts that precautions have to be taken to minimise the risk of spreading Covid-19 between patients and staff, he is concerned about the use of perspex in nursing home during visiting times. “You visit people in a prison through perspex. I am very concerned about this. People in nursing homes are not in some kind of prison or some type of a biblical leper colony. “The idea of seeing you loved ones through a perspex screen is not acceptable. I have no problem in accepting that Covid-19 poses a huge risk of nursing homes and precautions need to be taken. “As someone who spent a considerable length of time visiting someone very close to me in a nursing home up to quite recently this shocks and appals me,” he said. Gerry O’Malley …

IN recent weeks, debate has been raging over the Covid-19 death toll in residential facilities across Ireland. Despite the differing political opinions, there is little doubt that those living and working in nursing homes were at the forgotten front line for a number of crucial weeks as the pandemic took hold. Keeping coronavirus out involves a heroic struggle against an ever-present enemy. St Theresa’s Nursing Home in Kilrush, is one of the facilities that has managed to avoid an outbreak, while as many a quarter of homes in Clare have been affected to-date, according to the Health Service Executive (HSE). “My heart goes out to those who have had outbreaks,” said Yvonne Moroney, Director of Nursing at the family run facility on the Kilkee Road. “They have done everything in their power, but there is a constant risk and we are all living with that risk.” Yvonne, who is on call 24/7 at St Theresa’s, has seen an already demanding …

CLARE has been ranked fifth highest of Irish counties most exposed to “significant economic disruption” caused by the Covid-19 outbreak with more than half of the commercial units in the county likely to be affected. Cooraclare economist John Daly has conducted a study for the three Regional Assemblies of Ireland which found 50.5% of Clare’s commercial units were operating in sectors likely to be worst affected by Covid-19. This represents just over 2,500 businesses in Clare. The analysis found that 51% of units in Newmarket-on-Fergus were at risk, 47.7% in Ennis, 43.8% Kilrush, 42.6% Sixmilebridge and 32.6% in Shannon. Coastal and rural counties are more likely to be exposed due to their reliance on commercial units that generally require human interaction and cannot be operated remotely, the study outlines. The GeoDirectory commercial database has been used in identifying each area’s reliance on sectors likely to be affected by measures designed to curtail the spread of Covid-19. Sectors determined as likely …