Tag Archives: shannon

GETTING the public to report even minor incidents is very important to local policing, Tuesday’s meeting of Shannon Municipal District heard, but it also heard that on occasion local people are afraid to make a complaint. Sergeant Seamus Mulligan said that there are a relatively large number of Gardaí based in Shannon due to the airport, and with the facility not being too demanding on their time at the moment, that there is quite a good number of police working in the area. He said that in the last couple of years quite a bit of effort has gone into getting Neighbourhood Watch schemes going, and while these have been successful in some cases, that has not always been the case. “In a lot of areas, unfortunately, they don’t have the interest in engaging.” The efforts to get these schemes in place will continue over the next year, he added. Levels of crime in the Shannon area have remained relatively …

THE Government’s newly published plan for dealing with Covid-19, Resilience and Recovery, had relatively little to say about aviation, and no measure that will bring immediate comfort to Shannon, which is facing the potential loss of Ryanair services for the winter, along with its Aer Lingus transatlantic services. Essentially it proposes that Ireland apply the principles of a European Commission regime to have a common approach to travel within the EU. “It is proposed that Ireland broadly support the European Commission proposals and should continue to engage with Member States and the Commission to develop a regime that is consistent with public health requirements, cognisant of public of resources and capacity, while supportive of our need to support air transport,” it states. Clare TD Michael McNamara was far from pleased with what was set out. “It’s entirely vague and unsatisfactory. It’s almost as if things are going fine and we don’t really need to address this, when, in fact, our …

SHANNON-based Aer Lingus employees who are currently out of work are very disillusioned with their treatment during the pandemic. Speaking on Tuesday, one worker said that Shannon employees were first laid off, despite having given greater service in many cases than colleagues based at Dublin and Cork. “We are the most senior crew, yet we were laid off on June 21. We ended up on the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme and now since the start of September we’re supposed to be on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, but it’s been a disaster because most of us have been rejected for it. We’ve been sending in applications and getting rejected, whatever way the glitch is they haven’t us off the TWSS.” It has not been possible to get answers from the company, they claimed. “There’s a group of us who asked to meet the Commercial Department of Aer Lingus three weeks ago to ask why Shannon is being used as a pawn. …

THE summer was exceptionally wet in Shannon, but it was also the warmest place to be in Ireland, according to Met Éireann figures. Rainfall in Shannon was 79% above average for the months of June, July and August, making it the wettest summer in the town since 1997. Overall there was just under 3.9 metres of rainfall, a huge amount for the time of year. Shannon’s mean temperature for the summer was 15.2 degrees celsius, and while this was 0.3 degrees below average, it was still the highest mean temperature recorded across Met Éireann’s network of weather stations. It did get 381 hours of sunshine over the summer, but this was also below the expected amount. The Met Éireann report on the summer said, “After a spring where a weakened Jetstream remained away from Ireland to the north or south, the summer of 2020 saw an unseasonally strong North Atlantic Jetstream dominating our weather, keeping it mostly unsettled and cool …

SHANNON Airport is facing massive problems this week, with Aer Lingus considering moving its US services away from the Clare airport and Ryanair warning staff it may close its Shannon base for the winter. At the moment Shannon’s only real passenger business is with Ryanair, while the loss of the Aer Lingus transatlantic business going forward would be a crippling blow for Clare tourism, as well as being very detrimental to the prospects of retaining and developing US investment in the west of Ireland. Speaking to The Clare Champion on Wednesday, Shannon Group CEO Mary Considine said it is very important that the Government finally adjusts the restrictions on travel. “We are looking at the worst year in history for aviation, not just here in Shannon and nationally, but globally. Ryanair and Aer Lingus are really important customers to Shannon and I think they have stated very clearly the difficulty in restoring services or really kick starting aviation with the …

A CONFIRMED case of Covid-19 has been identified at St Conaire’s National School in Shannon. In a communication to staff, school principal Peter Walsh wrote “St Conaire’s NS has been notified of a confirmed case of Covid-19 in the school.” He added, “Please be assured that the school is doing everything possible to keep all pupils and staff safe and the school will be following all HSE advice in relation to this confirmed case.”

GRIM news of more restrictions on people aged 70 and over drew the ire of Active Retirement Ireland President Kay Murphy. Kay, who lives in Shannon, was very angry about limitations being introduced on older people once again. “We’re all disgusted really, particularly in Active Retirement. We’re in the froth again, where we’re supposed to cocoon now and isolate all over again for something we didn’t do. I would feel very strongly about it because I have great admiration for our members and all people over 70 who are vulnerable and did it for the 13 or 14 long weeks. To be told to go back and do it again, it’s shocking I think. We didn’t do anything wrong, I think it’s the people who broke the rules who should be penalised this time.” But aren’t people in this age group more at risk than others? “We are at risk and we are more at risk than most. But people …

EAST Clare has been affected far more than West Clare by Covid-19, according to a newly updated map with details of the level of infection in each electoral division, provided by the State. The figures take account of all confirmed cases up until August 12. For confidentiality reasons, no precise figures are provided for Electoral Divisions where fewer than five cases have been recorded. In Clare a very large number of the electoral districts are in the fewer than five category, and this is particularly true for the west of the county. Even in Kilrush, the largest population centre, the figure for both the rural and urban electoral divisions is below five. An exception in the west of the county is Miltwon Malbay, where there were nine confirmed cases from a population of 1,633. This gives a comparative figure of 551.13 per 100k. However in the east of the county there have been far more areas where multiple cases were …