Tag Archives: shannon

CLARE has been ranked fifth highest of Irish counties most exposed to “significant economic disruption” caused by the Covid-19 outbreak with more than half of the commercial units in the county likely to be affected. Cooraclare economist John Daly has conducted a study for the three Regional Assemblies of Ireland which found 50.5% of Clare’s commercial units were operating in sectors likely to be worst affected by Covid-19. This represents just over 2,500 businesses in Clare. The analysis found that 51% of units in Newmarket-on-Fergus were at risk, 47.7% in Ennis, 43.8% Kilrush, 42.6% Sixmilebridge and 32.6% in Shannon. Coastal and rural counties are more likely to be exposed due to their reliance on commercial units that generally require human interaction and cannot be operated remotely, the study outlines. The GeoDirectory commercial database has been used in identifying each area’s reliance on sectors likely to be affected by measures designed to curtail the spread of Covid-19. Sectors determined as likely …

ECO-UNESCO have announced that eight youth projects from Clare have reached the final of this year’s Young Environmentalist Awards. Some of the Clare finalists include CompGoesGreen from St Patrick’s Comprehensive School, The Plastic Police from Kilkee Community College and St John Bosco Community College who are continuing their project ‘Sowing for the Soul’ who won the senior category of Health and Wellbeing at the Young Environmentalist awards last year. St Patrick’s Comprehensive School has implemented a ban on single use plastics and have saved over 12,000 bottles going to landfill since their CompGoesGreen Project began. They have also introduced water refill stations in their school while selling stainless steel water bottles. Elaine Nevin, Director of ECO-UNESCO said “We are delighted at the quality of applications this year and we cannot wait to announce this year’s winners. Young people are still taking eco action and continuing their projects at home, despite the pandemic. In light of this we are holding an …

THERE has been a very good response to the Covid-19 crisis locally, according to Niamh O’Callaghan of the Love Shannon group. One of the few problems she identified is a tendency for young people to still come together, breaching the social distancing requirements. “Kids need to do a lot more, but that’s probably the same in every town in the country. We need to find something for kids to do, they’re bored off their heads. In this weather computer games aren’t necessarily going to kids. It isn’t kids in primary school but young teens, they’re hanging around together and they were causing quite a nuisance in the nighttime,” she said. However most people have done what has been required in the battle to limit the spread of the deadly disease. “In general it has been amazing and the place has been dead. Really, really dead.” Niamh said there have been street parties in certain areas, but with the residents staying …

WHILE the technology to do it fairly easily has been available for several years now, it is only since the onset of Covid-19 that broadcasting of masses online has become commonplace and the reaction from the Clare faithful has been quite positive. For many years now the numbers attending religious ceremonies has been falling, and the enthusiasm for watching them at home may give some encouragement to the Church. Shannon parish priest Father Arnold Rosney said that since the restrictions have been in place many people have viewed the masses he has put online. “We’re doing it every morning at 10am, using the facilities of the webcam, the parish radio and I put it on Facebook live as well, which is a huge attraction for a lot of people. We find that all three are getting big numbers, particularly on a Sunday morning. “To give you an example there were over 3,000 on Monday morning. The average could be 1,500 …

SHANNON students have been reaching out to residents of a nursing home who are unable to have visitors, letting them know they are not alone during the Covid-19 crisis. More than 80 students of St Caimin’s secondary school have written letters to the residents of Carrigoran House nursing home in Newmarket-on-Fergus. Students of the school usually visit Carrigoran at Easter time, but because of restrictions surrounding the pandemic this annual event had to be cancelled. School chaplain Cora Guinnane said that the letter writing was “the next best thing” and the students at the school were delighted to get involved. Cora explained that she and another teacher saw a similar initiative being carried out at a nursing home in Cork which had been a great success. “We thought it would be a fantastic idea to do with our students. So  I put the call out to students and teachers who would like to participate and we had a fantastic response. …

SCHOOL may be out for the foreseeable future, but, thanks to the efforts of a major Shannon food plant, school meals will now be delivered to the doors of families who need them most. Freshtoday, which had a staff of more than 30 in Shannon, was forced to cut around two-thirds of its local workforce when school closures were announced in response to the Covid-19 crisis. The company, which employs up to 240 staff nationwide, has now begun to hire some of its workers back to ensure that households in need are provided for. “As soon as schools closed, we knew that the demand from families and schools to supply food would be staggering”, said Tony Mulcahy, Managing Director of Freshtoday Clare. “We immediately set about implementing an alternative delivery method and ensuring that we could meet demand. We are pleased to say that we can offer a fortnightly delivery of groceries for each child, ensuring children have all the …

BROADCASTING and music circles in Clare, and well beyond, are in mourning after the death was announced of Clare FM presenter, Pat Costello. A long-time Shannon resident, he was a native of Moycarkey in County Tipperary. Mr Costello was a member, for many years, of the acclaimed traditional group Shaskeen, playing banjo, bouzouki and guitar. He was also an expert music producer and sound-recording enthusiast. For more than two decades, he presented music shows on Clare FM, most recently the hugely popular ‘Gentle Folk’ on Sunday nights. Managing Director of the station, Liam O’Shea, who was a long-time friend as well as a colleague, described Mr Costello as a genius. “Pat, to me, was one of the most talented people I’ve ever known,” he said. “He was a genius. He was absolutely brilliant when it came to technology. Pat was a fantastic musician. He spent a lot of time with me when I worked in the RTÉ studios, late into …

SHANNON Leisure Centre has announced it is closing temporarily, from this evening. In a statement it said, “Due to the increased risk of Covid 19 and importance placed on protective measures required to combat its spread we will be closing the Centre from close of business 9pm this evening. “It is anticipated the the Centre will reopen for business on Monday 30th March but considering the ever changing landscape of the Coronavirus Pandemic this will be kept under review. “It is felt that this is the best course of action at this time and in the best interests of our staff and members.”