THERE were “continuous requisitions” for coffins at the old County Clare Nursery in Kilrush, according to the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation Final Report, which was published on Tuesday. The County Clare Nursery, which was on the site of the Kilrush Workhouse on the Cooraclare Road, was open from 1922 to 1932 and it appears a very large number of children both were born and died there. According to the Commission’s report, “The death rate in Co Clare institutions is very high when compared with the numbers in the baptismal record. As the nursery was the only institution for ‘illegitimate’ children in Co Clare it is probable that at least the majority died there.” Between 1923 and 1932 there are records of 168 so-called ‘illegitimate’ infants dying in institutions in Clare, with 27 passing away in one single year, 1926. This figure does not include slightly older children who died in the institutions during the same years. A …
Read More »Ennis Samaritans respond to 50,000 calls for help
Ennis Samaritans answered 40,995 calls for help in the last 12 months, with most of these calls received out of hours when other support is not available. These call details were released in the 2015-2016 Impact Report covering Samaritans’ work in Ireland, which was launched this week. According to the report, over 639,652 calls for help were answered by Samaritans volunteers across Ireland in the last year. More than one in three calls to Samaritans’ national helpline were received between 6pm and 12am and 63% of all calls to the service are made between 6pm and 6am. Claire Cremmin, Director of Ennis branch, said: “We know that people don’t just struggle to cope between the hours of 9 to 5. The statistics released in our Impact Report 2015-2016 show many calls come through to the service throughout the evening and early morning hours, a time that can be lonely and isolating for those experiencing feelings of distress. Samaritans are the …
Read More »A one-job county
ENTERPRISE Ireland figures for 2013 show that the Mid-West was the agency’s worst performing region and client companies delivered a net gain of just one additional job in the Banner County. While much has been made of Ireland’s prospering export sector, the figures show the benefits are not being seen in Clare to the extent they are in some other parts of the country. County Councillor James Breen has reacted by claiming Clare is becoming a “poor relation” in terms of jobs and that the county’s Oireachtas members are not delivering. Enterprise Ireland is the government organisation responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets. It published its annual report and accounts on Thursday of last week, which showed 2013 results as the best performance in over a decade in terms of net job creation. The report showed a net increase in full-time employment of 3,620 across its six regions. While each one showed some level …
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