Tag Archives: Limerick

Clare is the fifth highest in the national rankings of personal injury awards per head of population, for the first half of this year. During the first six months of 2014, the total compensation awarded to personal injury claimants by the Injuries Board increased by 22% to €144 million, according to a mid-year analysis undertaken by the board. The increase was largely attributable to a natural time lag between the spike in claims over recent years and the resolution of those claims. By 2013 the increase in new claims had begun to level off and this trend has continued in to 2014 with claims volumes declining 1.3% in the eight months to August. Average compensation remained relatively unchanged at just over €22,000. As fifth in the national ranking of awards per head of population, 168 awards were made to Clare claimants in the first six months of the year with a total value of €3.6m. The average award was €21,463. …

Al Worden, who landed at Shannon Airport this Tuesday evening, was one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA in 1966 and served as a command module pilot for the historic Apollo 15 (July 26 – August 7, 1971). His arrival at Shannon for a number of public engagements, including a lecture at LIT tomorrow evening and a dinner at the Pavilion UL on the 17th, is all down to a self-confessed space fanatic, Paul Ryan from Ballybricken, Limerick reaching for his own stars to fulfil a bucket-list he drew up after two cardiac incidents at the age of 37. “I have had a fascination with space since I was a young boy and dreamed then of becoming an astronaut but that never happened, of course. I did get to live in the States later on and went to the NASA locations so they were huge moments. “The real trigger for doing this, however, was I had two cardiac incidents four years ago and our second child was born …

A GIANT granny comes to Munster this weekend as world renowned French based street theatre company Royal de Luxe bring their newest giant to Limerick as part of the city of culture line-up. Founded in France in 1979 by Jean-Luc Courcoult Royal de Luxe have performed in front of more than 18 million spectators across the world and this weekend they bring their 30 foot tall Grandmother to Limerick. From Friday, September 5 to Sunday, September 7 they will be in Limerick where they will deliver a unique Irish urban tale, bringing their Giant’s Saga to Ireland for the first time. The Giant will tell a story while she is in the city over three days offering plenty of free family entertainment. Grandmother, which is being referred to locally as Granny, stands at 7.5metres tall, and is handled like a marionette by tens of Lilliputians, which have become a directly identifiable signature of the street theatre company. Speaking about the …

Gardaí have seized almost half a million euro worth of drugs following two searches carried out in Meelick and O’Briensbridge on Tuesday night. The controlled substance has yet to be analysed but is believed to be heroin. The seizure was made by garda in Limerick and Clare arising from an ongoing operation into the sale and supply of controlled substances in the Limerick Division and in neighbouring counties. One man has been arrested and is currently being detained at Roxboro Road Garda Station in Limerick under drug trafficking legislation. He can be held for questioning without charge for up to a week.

ISME, the Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association, has launched its nationwide SME Debt Restructuring seminars to be held in early September. The association has called on the Irish banks to remember that the reason for the taxpayer bailing them out was so that they in turn would be in a better position to assist vulnerable SMEs to trade profitably again. The free seminar for businesses in the Mid-West will be held in the Strand Hotel, Limerick on Thursday, September 4. At the launch the ISME CEO, Mark Fielding stated, “While the scale of the issues and the competing nature of the demands in terms of personal debts, personal investments and business needs have resulted in some paralysis, SMEs are negotiating solutions with their banks and coming out of the process with integrated and well thought out evaluations and plans to allow them continue to trade”. “The purpose of the seminars is to demonstrate to business owners that despite the severe pressure …

MORE than a quarter of people helped by Milford Care Centre (MCC) every year are from Clare. Clare people are also to the fore in driving and expanding MCC’s services in the Mid-West, particularly when it comes to the work involved in financing and funding the specialist care needed by end-of-life patients. Milford Care Centre is the designated specialist palliative care service provider for Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary. It operates through consultant-led teams of professionals at Milford Hospice in-patient unit in Castletroy, and its Hospice At Home care teams, working in conjunction with doctors and local respite beds, in support bed units across the region. The head of finance at MCC is Cathy Sheehan from Ballynacally. Working with Milford since 1997, she has seen a rapid expansion in the range of services offered in response to growing demands over the past 17 years. “Last year, Milford looked after over 1,500 patients across the region and, with 25% of those …

The Chambers of Ennis, Galway, Limerick and Shannon, which represent 1,355 members with a combined employment level of 45,700, have welcomed the recent signing into law of the Shannon Airport Bill. The Chambers’ concern about the length of time it has taken to complete this very necessary piece of legislation has been well documented but the presidents are now unanimous in their belief that a new dawn has finally arrived for Shannon Airport with new Shannon Group plc finally being in a position to bring their very ambitious plans for the airport to fruition. In a joint statement, the presidents said,”The ability of the new airport management teams now in place at the airport is clearly evident. A five-year decline in passenger numbers has already been reversed in its first year as an independent entity, and double-digit growth in passenger numbers is forecast for 2014. We can now confidently look forward to seeing further wins for the new strategic business units …

The total number of vacant commercial premises in Clare has increased from 11.2% in Q1 2013 to 12.2% in Q1 2014, according to the latest data published by GeoDirectory this Monday. For the first time, the report includes an analysis of the commercial vacancy rates of a selection of Ireland’s main shopping centres and high streets in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Kilkenny and Limerick. In Clare, 863 of the 7,062 commercial addresses recorded in Q1 2014 were vacant. This is a commercial vacancy rate of 12.2%.  This figure relates to premises in Ennis and all over the count. According to the latest edition of GeoView which is published quarterly, there are 223,336 commercial address points across the country, of which, 27,791 were classified as vacant. The national commercial vacancy rate in Q1 2014 is unchanged from the 12.4% reported in Q4 2013. Thirteen counties; Sligo, Leitrim, Galway, Dublin, Limerick, Roscommon, Waterford, Carlow, Donegal, Mayo, Laois, Longford and Offaly recorded commercial vacancy rates …