Tag Archives: Peter O’Connell

PETER O’Connell has been appointed as editor of The Clare Champion and will take up the position on Thursday next, May 31. Mr O’Connell succeeds Austin Hobbs, who has held the position since 2006 and will remain on in the newsroom. Mr O’Connell is married with two daughters and lives in his native Kilmurry McMahon. He is a past pupil of Drumdigus National School and Kilrush CBS. His media career began with Midlands Radio in 1996, while he worked at Clare FM from 1999 to 2002, before joining The Clare Champion. In his 16 years as a reporter with The Champion, he has covered both news and sport. Four years ago, Mr O’Connell found himself at the centre of a significant story himself. He and the then Clare hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald clashed publicly in Cusack Park, with the Sixmilebridge man angered by some opinion pieces that had been written by Mr O’Connell. This week, Mr O’Connell said the newspaper …

THE Clare Champion has scooped another award at the Local Ireland Media Awards, as reporter Dan Danaher’s series focusing on the EPA took the news series prize. This is the second award for The Clare Champion in the two year history of the Local Ireland Media Awards, as last year the regional newspaper took the prize for best feature article. Also nominated for an award was ‘Clare Champion reporter Peter O’Connell for his news story, Death by Geography. Over a 10 week period, Dan Danaher’s award winning news series examined the environmental compliance of 17 local companies who deal with various different types of chemicals and hazardous waste. Of those that were featured in The Clare Champion/Mary Raftery Special Investigation, 15 companies were initially granted Integrated Pollution and Prevention Control (IPPC) licences. The two exceptions were Enva and Clean Ireland Recycling Limited, who have waste licences. The main function of these licences is to ensure that companies, who are handling …

TWO Clare Champion reporters have been selected as finalists in this year’s Local Ireland Media Awards. Peter O’Connell has been selected as a finalist for the second year running, this time in the news category, for his story, Death by Geography, while Dan Danaher has been shortlisted for his news series focusing on the EPA. This is the second year of the awards. Last year, The Clare Champion was also shortlisted in two categories and went on to win the prize for Feature Story of the Year. The awards event is organised by Local Ireland, which is the promotional brand of the Regional Newspapers and Printers Association of Ireland (RNPAI). The group represents 35 companies across the country, including newspaper titles and printing companies. In his selected entry, Peter O’Connell revealed that the Shannondoc service in Kilrush, Ennistymon and Killaloe was to be drastically slashed. Residents throughout West Clare, particularly the remote villages of Carrigaholt, Cross and Kilbaha, expressed concern …

The five-way  battle for the 39th presidency of the GAA will be decided at 2017 Congress in Croke Park on February 25. Peter O’Connell spoke to Clare candidate Robert Frost about his vision for the role if he wins. POC: Are you enjoying the election battle? RF: I’ve fought many a campaign and this is the toughest campaign I’ve fought. I’m enjoying it and it’s a great honour to to be even nominated for the position. I’ve been involved in the GAA all my life. I was secretary of my own club, O’Callaghan’s Mills, at 17 years of age. I was involved in the Clare County Board and Munster Council, so the natural progression for me was to contest the presidency. When your opportunity comes, you take your opportunity. POC: You have been a GAA administrator for almost 50 years! RF: Near enough. I was secretary of my club for 10 years in the 1970s. Then I got involved in …

THIS week and for as long as the Clare hurlers are still in the championship, Davy Fitzgerald should be concentrating on managing the county team. They have an All-Ireland quarter-final to prepare for and that should be his number one priority. Fitzgerald’s interview on Newstalk on Tuesday evening clearly suggests that his full concentration is not on that task. Aside from post-match comments to reporters, what other manager gives wide-ranging one-on-one interviews 12 days before a season-defining game? Regarding his “horrendous” comment on local media coverage of the hurling team, what type of coverage would he be happiest with? Presumably, coverage that doesn’t even lightly question anything related to how he manages the team. Every media outlet in Clare lauded Fitzgerald and his panel when they won the All-Ireland in 2013. However, since then Clare have stuttered badly and won just a single championship game in 2014 and 2015. How could any half-decent journalist ignore that and pretend that the …

A CLARE Champion journalist hopes her award-winning article on a farm tragedy will help to increase public awareness of workplace risks and reduce further loss of life. Nicola Corless scooped a Local Ireland Media Award for writing the best Feature Story of the Year at a presentation ceremony in Tullamore last week. Her story, titled When all changes in an instant, was widely praised for its sensitive telling of how a family coped with the death of a husband and father. “There have been five farming-related fatalities this year to date and we aren’t even into the busiest time yet. I hope the award will mean that more people read the article and carefully consider whether or not the time saved by taking a risk is worth what could ultimately be lost. “I am glad to see voluntary organisations, like Embrace FARM, providing some support to farm families who have lost a loved one or been injured in a farming …

THE 2015 Clare Senior Football Championship final has the potential to be one of the most intriguing for many years. Miltown haven’t seen Jack Daly for 25 long seasons, while Cooraclare’s memories of their last win in 1997 are also fading into the mists of time. This year’s final has a fresh look to it simply because it has been so long since either club were in one and because there are players on both sides who have more than paid their dues to their clubs and, indeed, to Clare football. Nobody necessarily deserves anything but it is fair to say that a cohort of players on both panels have more than earned their county final day experience. So who will win it and why? Based on their respective semi-final performances, Cooraclare should start as clear favourites. Of course, that doesn’t mean that they will win it. While their semi-final display against Clondegad was not flawless, they played the game …

Davy Fitzgerald spoke candidly to Peter O’Connell when they met on Wednesday morning in Ennis. They talked about their shared past and where Clare hurling goes from here WHEN Davy Fitzgerald entered the Temple Gate Hotel on Wednesday morning, nobody noticed. It wasn’t that people were deliberately ignoring the Clare hurling manager. It was just that his attire would have led them astray. Replacing the Clare top was a sharp-looking jacket, far removed from the dress code Davy dons when patrolling the sideline, lobbing the odd enraged query at referees and sometimes even following them for a quick post-match word. Wednesday’s Davy cut a much more relaxed figure and one that didn’t blink or avoid questions when the conversation flowed. First up, why? Before talk turned to referees, Clare McNamara, Colm Galvin, Clare’s 2015 on-field record and the influence of Davy’s father Pat Fitzgerald, the air had to be cleared somewhat. Given that there has been the odd moment of …