Tag Archives: shannon

TAOISEACH Mícheál Martin was at EI Electronics in Shannon today, where he officially opened the company’s new 10,000 square metre facility. The company are locally owned and one of the biggest employers in Clare, while they expect to add around 200 more staff over the coming year. When construction on the new facility began in 2020 they predicted that the development would allow them “to significantly expand our teams and current production capacity over the coming years, as well as deepening our ties with the local community and region.” The new development provides provides additional Manufacturing Capacity, R&D, and Office Space. The continued success of EI Electronics was lauded by Clare TD Cathal Crowe, who welcomed the fact that its headcount will increase once again. “Today’s announcement by Chief Executive of EI Mick Guinnee is a hugely positive endorsement of Shannon, Clare and the Midwest region as a whole,” said Deputy Crowe. “The Shannon Free Zone is proving time and …

SINS of the Father, a book by local survivor of sexual abuse Shaneda Daly has just hit the shelves. In 2011 Shaneda’s father Harry, who worked as a prison officer for years and who is formerly of Lanna, Lisycasey, pleaded guilty to 227 sample charges of offences including rape, indecent assault and sexual assault.  While he received a 15-year sentence, in reality the time served was far shorter and Shaneda has been a prominent voice in recent years, seeking reform and mandatory sentencing. Shaneda had been faced with very frequent sexual abuse from the age of five until she turned 17 and moved out of home.  In an interview with the Clare Champion in 2018 she said, “When I was 17, me and my brother had a fight. I went down to the Garda station and it came out in the Garda Station. The next day my father left the house for a year, supposedly to get therapy. “Then he …

AMERICAN accents will be heard around Clare more frequently from next Thursday, with transatlantic flights finally resuming from Shannon. With Americans well known as big spenders, it is great news for the Banner’s tourism sector, which has had to cope without them for the last two years. Maurice Walsh is general manager of Durty Nelly’s in Bunratty and he said the return of the Americans will be very welcome. “We are looking forward to it with anticipation. It’s going to be a great bonus to the airport and a great bonus to the area. The flights at Shannon at the moment are really just moving Irish people in and out of the country, but the American flights will bring the tourists back into the area.” He says that he expects business to pick up significantly. “We have a lot of bookings at the start of next week. It’s the usual St Patrick’s Day rush that comes in through Shannon. They …

ON March 1 Teresa Woods will retire having been Parish Secretary for the last 17 years. She took up the role in February of 2005, working for then parish priest Father Tom Ryan, with the Parish Office having opened a couple of months afterwards. People call into the office for all sorts of reasons, from baptisms to bereavements, buying mass cards and booking weddings.  Looking back on the last 17 years Teresa says the people she has encountered have made the job a really fulfilling experience. “I’ve worked with incredible people in the parish. First of all the clergy have been terrific. The parishioners as well.” Shannon has a unique mix of people, and she feels that one consequence of its demographics is that people give each other a chance. “We’re a very unique parish in that we’re all kind of blow-ins, and we all get on well with each other, we take each other at face value. I think …

LOCAL woman Brid Casey is part of the first all-female team that will compete in the GRIMP North America competition which will be held in Los Angeles next month. It is an international rescue skills challenge and will be hosted on the Battleship Iowa. GRIMP is a competition that originated in Belgium in the mid 2000s for rescue teams to pit their skills against one another. “Some of them are fire service, some of them work in industry and come together, some of them are rescue teams from different mountains, there’s cave rescue,” explains Brid. “The competition goes over four days, there are different scenarios set, everyone competes on those and there’s a winner announced. GRIMP North America is a spin off from that. “It was on in LA in 2019 and initially they planned to have it every second year, but Covid interfered with that. This is going to be the second year of it. “Twelve teams compete, it’s …

PASSENGERS who were on board a Ryanair flight from Shannon have shared details of the terrifying experience they endured on the service to Birmingham. Last Friday was a day to forget for the unfortunate passengers who were flying to the UK city. After boarding their aircraft in stormy conditions, they were then left waiting for hours before the plane finally took off. After going to Birmingham, it was judged that they could not land safely and there was uncertainty for some time as to where they would go instead. Ultimately the flight was redirected to Prestwick outside of Glasgow. After landing there, the passengers were told they had two options, neither appealing. One choice was to take a bus to Birmingham, which could take in the region of eight hours. Their other option was to stay on the aircraft, which was going to take off once again, but they were told there was only a 50-50 chance that it would …

THIS month marks 60 years since the first national school was opened in Shannon. It was in February of 1962 that St Senan’s opened its doors, as the town was being established, with thousands having received their education there since. School principal Tori Hehir said that plans are being made to mark the milestone. “We’re doing a school mass on February 23, and we’ll have past pupils and past teachers there, all of that. With fun days we’re going to push them out to March and April and see will the remaining Covid measures lift.” She said the school now has 129 pupils, with the numbers not as large as they once were due to demographic changes in Shannon and the opening of a number of other schools. St Senan’s board of management is chaired by Geraldine Lambert, who has deep family ties to the school. “I’m actually the first great grandparent of a child in the school. My great …

A NEW Barcelona-Girona service from Shannon Airport is to begin next month. It will operate twice weekly, each Tuesday and Saturday, commencing Tuesday, March 29 until the end of October 2022. Welcoming the service Mary Considine, CEO, Shannon, “We know that restoring connectivity is important to our airport customers and that is why we have been working hard with our airline partners to create exciting holiday opportunities. This is incredibly positive news for Shannon Airport. We have been working closely with Ryanair to deliver this service and are looking forward to the commencement of it at the end of March.” Ryanair’s Director of Commercial, Jason McGuinness said, “We are pleased to add this new route to Girona as part of our summer ‘22 schedule from Shannon. This route will operate twice weekly for the summer season, starting from March 29. Girona is the perfect destination for anyone seeking an authentic Spanish city escape, with its winding cobbled streets, medieval architecture …