Tag Archives: Quin

FOLLOWING consultation with the Health Service Executive (HSE), Irish Water, working in partnership with Clare County Council, has issued a Do Not Consume Notice for consumers on the Shannon/Sixmilebridge Public Water Supply due to elevated levels of manganese. The notice applies to approximately 7,500 customers and is effective immediately. It does not apply to customers in Shannon, Newmarket-on-Fergus and Bunratty. It is especially important that mains drinking water is not given to bottle fed infants. Please note this is not a Boil Water Notice. Boiling the water will not reduce manganese levels and is therefore not a suitable measure to make the water safe to consume. This notice does not apply to other water schemes in County Clare. Tankered water will be in place at the following locations to provide an alternative water supply to customers. Customers are reminded to use their own containers when taking water from the tanker and to boil water before consumption as a precautionary measure. …

AS the curtain comes down on this week’s Galway Races, a county Clare community will be honouring one of its own riding greats. Last year was the 25th anniversary of Jason Titley’s career highlight, when he steered 40/1 chance Royal Athlete to victory in the Aintree Grand National. The timing was not lost on Pat O’Brien from Quin who set about organising a tribute to the former jockey in his home village. “We were hoping to do it last year for that anniversary, but Covid stopped us, so we’re getting around to it again now,” says Pat. With society gradually reopening and the Galway Races under orders this week, and welcoming back spectators, the time felt right to revive the plan. So, this Saturday a plaque honouring Jason will be unveiled opposite the family pub, The Monk’s Well in Quin, with one of Ireland’s great jockeys Paul Carberry doing the honours.  “Aidan O’Connell, who’d be well known from the Hunt and …

A QUIN man undergoing break-through cancer therapy in Germany has issued an emotional ‘thank you’ to those who are helping to fund his treatment. Johnny Hassett of Ballyhannon House, who is a very popular and highly respected member of the equestrian community, received a lung cancer diagnosis in June and has been having chemotherapy under the care of a leading specialist in a German hospital in recent weeks. The 49-year-old specialises in producing ‘breeze up’ horses, who are galloped or ‘breezed’ in front of prospective buyers. Since his diagnosis, members of the sector have rallied around Johnny and raised over €250,000 through a Gofundme campaign. The fundraising drive was started by members of the The Breeze-up Consignors Association (BUCA) to help with medical bills and has resulted in a huge outpouring of goodwill in Clare and much further afield. John Cullinan of BUCA told The Champion that the figure raised to-date indicates the high regard in which the Quin man …

RESEARCH involving Clare natives at NUI Galway and the Western Development Commission (WDC) shows that the vast majority of employees favour some form of remote working. The National Remote Working Survey was led by Professor Alma McCarthy from Labasheeda who is Head of the JE Cairnes School of Business and Economics and Tomás Ó Síocháin, CEO of the WDC, a native of Quin. The survey is the second of its kind since the pandemic began and found that among those who could work remotely, 95% were in favour of doing so on an ongoing basis. The majority of those, 53%, said they would like to work remotely several times a week, 32% said they would like to work fully remotely and 10% several times a month. The number of people who would like to work fully remotely (32%) has increased substantially from the first national survey conducted in April 2020 when it stood at 12%. The figure of 95% is …

A QUIN man, who has terminal cancer, is to receive his Covid-19 vaccination on Friday and has urged the government do all it can to avoid any repeat of the Beacon Hospital row. John Wall spoke out on the national airwaves over the weekend, following revelations that left-over vaccine doses were administered by the private hospital to some of the staff of a fee-paying school in Wicklow. “I didn’t expect the item to get the time or traction that it did on the Saturday show with Katie Hannon,” said Mr Wall who has stage four prostate cancer. “To be able to put questions and react to the comments of a junior minister was a real, real bonus in terms of highlighting the frustration and anger of those who in Cohort 4 and in 4A, who are really seriously ill, and who cannot get clarity on when or where they will get a vaccine.” Mr Wall said the Beacon story left …

AS EVENTS in the War of Independence are commemorated across the country, communities in East Clare are preparing to mark the 100th anniversary of the Glenwood Ambush in the New Year. On January 20, 1921 at about 4pm, a motorised patrol of ten armed Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Black and Tans, travelling from Sixmilebridge to Broadford, approached the back gate of Glenwood House. Waiting for them, concealed behind the walls of the Glenwood estate was a group of approximately 37 armed volunteers, from the East Clare Brigade of the IRA, led by Michael Brennan of Meelick. As the patrol passed by the gates, a fusillade of gunshots struck the patrol. Six RIC and Black and Tans were killed, two were injured and two escaped unhurt. One IRA volunteer was injured. The ambush party then withdrew through the forest and mountains to the East of Glenwood, towards the village of Oatfield. The surviving members of the patrol made their way …

CONCERN in the Quin area over the ongoing closure of two local Shannon Heritage sites has prompted a call for an action committee to ensure their future. With the advent of the pandemic last March, five sites in Clare and Limerick faced an uncertain future, due to the collapse in overseas visitor numbers. Only Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and King John’s Castle in Limerick have managed to stay open after intense campaigns involving staff, unions and politicians, and a promise of funding from government – the exact details of which are still being ironed out. Ger O’Halloran of Quin, a businessman and former local election candidate, has pleaded with those responsible not to abandon Knappogue Castle and Craggaunowen, and called for a local action committee to be established. “To look at Knappogue now, it is locked up and unkempt looking,” he remarked. “The longer it is closed, the more it will cost to get it open again. To maintain …

FUTURE development of tourism in East Clare will require new strategies to ensure that key historical sites are sustained as drivers of economic activity, according to a local TD. Scariff’s Deputy Michael McNamara has made the case, once again, for an alternative management structure for the Clare sites operated currently by Shannon Heritage. Since the advent of the pandemic, sites like Craggaunowen and Knappogue Castle outside the village of Quin have remained closed, amid a steep fall-off in international visitor numbers. Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, which had been set to close in the autumn, secured an eleventh hour reprieve after a government funding injection of €2.6m. The money will enable it and King John’s Castle to stay open until the end of this year. Speaking to Scariff Bay Community Radio, the Independent TD said he had raised the need to support the wider Shannon Group, with Micheál Martin, before and since his election as Taoiseach. Deputy McNamara added that …