Tag Archives: shannon

FORMER US President Donald Trump has arrived in Clare. While he was expected at Shannon Airport between 3pm and 5pm this afternoon, it was around 6.30pm when his aircraft touched down. He later left Shannon for Doonbeg in a motorcade consisting of approximately 20 vehicles, while a helicopter kept watch overhead. Neither Shannon nor Doonbeg saw protests of any note this evening and in fact there were a small number of Trump supporters in both areas. One woman brandishing a Trump banner outside Shannon Airport as his motorcade passed said she was thrilled to have come so close to him. “I’m absolutely delighted. I came down from Ballinrobe in Mayo, I brought the kids down, it’s a once in a lifetime experience and I wanted them to see it and feel it.” She claimed that Trump was the winner of the last US Presidential election. “Trump’s amazing isn’t he? He’s the one. Trump won!” Mr Trump is being accompanied by …

BIG time boxing came back to the west of Ireland on Friday night, with a sell-out show at Leisureland in Salthill. There was a major Clare interest as Shannon’s David Ryan opened the Conlan Boxing/Top Rank promoted show, with a shut-out points victory over the Costa Rican Berman Sanchez. While Ryan won every one of the six rounds convincingly, his 39 year old opponent was a tough and thick-set fighter, and it never looked like the fight would not go the scheduled six rounds. The tone for the fight was set very early on, with Ryan delivering a number of snappy body punches, as he was on the front foot continuously. In the second the visiting fighter did land a couple of left hooks, but Ryan was still very much on top, and he delivered an excellent left hand mid way through the round, reflecting his superiority. Ryan landed some solid right hands in the third, with a bit more …

IN late 2020, Shannon’s Ryan Nolan was on the brink of something big. A graduate of Inter Milan’s academy, the young centre back had been on the bench for Spanish club side Getafe twice in La Liga games. He was a couple of days away from making his club debut in the Copa Del Rey (Spanish Cup). He was on the brink of a career disaster. Two days before he was set to make his debut for one of Spain’s bigger clubs he tore his cruciate ligament, and more than a year out of football would follow. The 24 year old is back on his feet now, literally and figuratively, anchoring the Raith Rovers defence in the Scottish Championship. For the first time he has had a long run of games in a club’s first team, rebuilding his sharpness and confidence. Nolan was eight years old and attending Clonmoney National School, when his parents opted to move the family to …

THE second Wings Music Festival will be held in Shannon over the course of a week from February 20-26. It follows the initial festival which was held last June, and organiser Damian O’Rourke said that holding it before the summer could see an even greater level of local interest and engagement. “There’s a lot going on in the summer. The winter is a good time for it, with the dark evenings you might have more people who would like to go to a gig and get involved in something,” he told The Champion. “When it’s the summer people might want to head off, whereas in the winter it’s more suited to indoor gigs. “I was a big fan of the Winter Music Festival in Sixmilebridge. That was at the end of January, I loved that vibe and I’m trying to pull a few bits from what they created and bring it to Shannon. “I hope they come back. I didn’t …

FOLLOWING last Saturday’s meeting in the Town Park 22 people came forward for the formation of a committee to represent concerns in the community about the development of Unit 153 in the Shannon Busines Park as a centre for emergency accommodation. “We’re going to have a meeting, look at what people want. I think we’ll want to look at meeting with public representatives, look at getting answers with regard to the plans, what services and amenities will be put in place for the community with the backdrop of a proposal to use a significant sized building,” said Elaine Kingston Durbin, one of the organisers of Saturday’s meeting. She said there is a belief that several hundred refugees will be housed there, but it’s still unconfirmed. “This is a 137,000 square foot building, it’s not small. If they were going to bring in a smaller amount of people they would bring in a smaller building. “Based on other buildings around the …

AROUND 300 people will be accommodated at the new centre for refugee accommodation in the Shannon Free Zone, it has now emerged. While the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth had been very reluctant to reveal any details about their Shannon plans, in a statement which was passed onto Clare TD Cathal Crowe it said, “The Department is working with the OPW to develop proposals/design to use a state owned property in Shannon Free Zone to accommodate circa 300 International Protection Applicants. This engagement is ongoing and final details will be disclosed when designs and contract with a provider to operate the facility is finalised. Timelines are indicative but it is anticipated that the property will come online later in the year.” The information was provided to Deputy Crowe only after he made an official complaint to the Ceann Comhairle’s office, around the Department’s decision not to share information with elected representatives.

AN extension of planning permission to allow for the completion of a new multi-storey block and a multi-deck car park at Westpark has been refused by Clare County Council. FGPO Ireland Limited Partnership had sought to extend the appropriate period of planning permission for the development of what would have been Block 6000, a mix-used multi-storey block. The plans were for a building with a gross internal area of 12,045 square metres, with offices on the three upper floors and data centre/light industrial/storage/Research & Development uses on the bottom two floors.  It also included plans for an ancillary, multi-deck car park, located to the south of Block 4000, within the campus. This was to have 580 spaces and was intended to replace two existing car parks. A document submitted as part of the application said that much work has already been completed within the Westpark campus. “Extensive and substantial works have been completed in respect of the wider campus with …

ANGELA Coll attended last Saturday afternoon’s meeting in Shannon Town Park and has subsequently become involved in running a Facebook page entitled Shannon Fáilte, which favours using the Shannon Free Zone property as emergency accommodation. While favouring more refugees being housed in Shannon, she said the approach being taken by the State is flawed. “I’m a member of Fianna Fáil and I’m not happy with the Government, they are not communicating with the people of Shannon, Cathal Crowe knows nothing, the councillors know nothing. And that’s very bad form. “But at the same time these are people who desperately require some form of accommodation. They’re kitting out a factory for them, it’s less than ideal, but it’s better than having people sleeping on the streets. That’s how we would be looking at it. “We should be working with the Council to try and get as much facilities in place and as much support as possible for both the community and …