A call to blend “the future and the past” at Ennis’ Daniel O’Connell Monument with an upgrade of a nearby billboard to an LED display has been made. The billboard, on the side of a building to the left of the iconic monument in the heart of Ennis, was described as “falling off the wall” by Councillor Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) at a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District.

An out of this world design for a human settlement on a moon of Jupiter, including asteroid mining and a space elevator, has resulted in a team of Ennis students achieving international success in a prestigious competition founded by NASA. The students from St Flannan’s College are now hoping to blast off to the US to present their ideas at the International Space Development Conference, with a fundraising campaign to get them there launching off.

Fears over the ability of the Ennis 2040 DAC to repay its loan of €10 million to Clare County Council have been expressed, with a local councillor questioning its solvency. Councillor Tom O’Callaghan (FF) was speaking at a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District where he requested a report on the total costs incurred by, or on behalf of Ennis 2040 DAC since its establishment.

People are angry. They’ve never been paid as much. But never had less left when the bills are paid. Not all of this is the Government’s fault but some of it is. The Government can hardly be held responsible for the warmongering of Israel and Trump and the resultant impact on international oil markets. It’s not hard to see why people were annoyed when the Government told them it could not reduce taxes on fuel used for work, or to get to work, or to heat their homes at a time of record tax receipts and record spending.

Reporters from The Clare Champion have spent the past week asking the people how they feel about last week’s protests. The resounding feeling coming back is one of confusion. There is confusion in the first instance for a lot of people over whether they were supportive of the protests during the course of the week. Many welcomed the protest when it began and hoped that protesters would be listened to, however, as the week progressed and the effects of the action were felt on the ground, there were conflicting opinions.

Munster Senior Hurling Championship Round 1 Clare 2-33 Waterford 4-21 More a first dance than a last tango as Clare finally broke their Munster Senior Hurling Championship opening round home hoodoo in spectacular fashion in front of 18,338 in Zimmer Biomet Páirc, writes Eoin Brennan. Successive first round reverses to Tipperary (2023) and Limerick (2024) along with last year’s superb point saving salvo against Cork ensured that much of the pre-match commentary centred around this being do-or-die for the Banner.

Clare County Council is owed almost three-quarters of a million euros in derelict property levies since 2024. Just €95,559 in levies have been collected to date by the council on the 144 properties currently on the Derelict Sites Register. Figures provided by Alan Farrell, director of service for housing, at the full council meeting on Monday, April 13, showed his department has billed property owners across the county €926,093 to date, with around €436,000 of this figure billed in 2026 alone.

Shannon rapper God Knows will feature in the opening episode of a new TG4 series bringing musicians with diverse backgrounds together to make music. TG4 presents Cara sa Cheol (A Friend in Music), a new six-part music documentary series celebrating creative collaboration between Irish-language artists and musicians from Ireland’s New Irish and immigrant communities. Set in an evolving Ireland, Cara sa Cheol pairs artists from different cultural backgrounds to create bold new musical collaborations.

Sara Foust has been riding a rogue wave. Having accidentally opened a community gallery in Ennistymon in 2016, she has spent ten years swimming in heavy currents, sometimes plotting her own course, sometimes having a course plotted for her. After stepping away from the Foust Gallery, and her commercial painting activities for the past twelve months, she is back in business later this month and is excited to share exactly what she has been up to.

Ken O’Sullivan has spent a quarter of a century underwater. The Lahinch filmmaker has brought the deeps of the Atlantic into our sitting rooms, made the unseen seen and the unknown knowable. While he has become synonymous with the water off County Clare, it was down in Kerry where his love of the sea first blossomed. Later this month, Ken brings his new live show, Stories of the Sea, to the stage at glór.

Munster Senior Hurling Championship Round 1 Clare v Waterford at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg Ennis, Sunday 2pm (Shane Hynes, Galway) The wait is over as the next chapter in an unmissable Munster hurling rivalry opens up in Ennis on Sunday. With Clare’s home record, especially in first round ties, not exactly exemplary in recent seasons, in truth, a win on Sunday is almost a prerequisite if Clare are to bounce back to the All-Ireland series.

Munster Senior Camogie Championship Quarter-Final Clare v Waterford at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg Ennis, Saturday 2pm (Colm Maher, Cork) Clare’s National Camogie League celebrations may have been cut short but it would be double the party if they could set the tone for a major weekend of Munster Senior Championship action against Waterford in Ennis on Saturday afternoon. With their hurling counterparts, who also soared to Division 1B league honours over Dublin, commencing their provincial round-robin series against the Deise 24 hours later, this is a glorious opportunity for Eugene Foudy’s side to perhaps take a big scalp.

A group of Shannon pupils have emerged as a winner from the seventh annual BD STEM Stars competition for a cognitive support app to help people with early to mid-stage dementia. Three students from St. Patrick’s Comprehensive School, Chloe O’Loughlin, Caoimhe Ashton and Biella Pulida, came together to create the app, having been motivated for personal reasons. “We are developing a cognitive support app to help people living with dementia and as each of us have family members with dementia,” explained Biella.

Even as a very young man, Gerry Kennedy was involved in everything in North Clare. Back in the Spring of 1976, the Burren man was the ideal candidate to become the very first Clare Champion notes correspondent for Corofin. And so it has been for five decades, as the village grew and changed, and today’s news became yesterday’s afterthought, Gerry was always there to tell the story of Corofin to the rest of the county.

Since the advent of the round robin series for the Munster Championship, there have been three meetings between the Banner County and the Deise at Clare headquarters, with the home side boasting a 100 per cent record, writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh. 27 May 2018 Clare 2-27 Waterford 2-18 at Cusack Park Ennis THE first year of the round robin in Munster and it was the home side that got their Munster Championship bid up-and-running in style when powering to a nine-point victory against the previous year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists.

A Munster Council official has revealed he was "blown away" by the new facilities in a South-East Clare GAA club. Over the last three years, Cratloe GAA Club Chairman, Kevin Browne estimated the club has spent €400,000 purchasing eight acres to develop a new full sized playing pitch with a proposed running track and upgrading the Sportlann Mhichil Ui Mhurchu, the hurling wall and the new Jackie O'Gorman Stand.

Ennis continues to go ‘batty’ for the game of Padel with another development of courts getting the green light in the county capital. Planning permission has been granted for the development at the Clare Technological Park in Ennis, with a range of measures aimed at mitigating against negative impacts on protected species including the Lesser Horseshoe Bat to be put in place.

A unique community event taking place in O’Briensbridge this Saturday, April 18, which will allow people to clear out their attics and declutter their homes in aid of a worthy local project. The Spring Clear-out, which runs from 12-3pm at the O’Briensbridge-Montpelier Community Hall, will bring together a selection of preloved homewares, furniture, upcycled pieces, books, flowers and more, offering visitors the chance to pick up one-of-a-kind items while supporting the redevelopment of the old school in Montpelier into a Community Centre.

Munster Under 20 Football Championship Phase 2 Round 2 Waterford 2-14 Clare 2-13 Clare now need to halt Kerry’s five-in-a-row bid in Tralee next Wednesday (7pm) if they are to reach a first Munster Under 20 Football Final in 24 years following a heartbreaking finale at the hands of a never-say-die Waterford in St Michael Park in Kilmihil. Already confirmed as Clare’s most successful Under 20 side following a clean sweep of three Phase 1 victories over Tipperary, Waterford and Limerick, Phase 2 has proven a little more frustrating as a failure to close out home contests against Cork and Waterford have left the Banner with only one point out of a merited four that would have virtually secured their passage to the final.

There’s just something so admirable about Abby Walsh’s attitude and ambition that makes it patently clear to see why Eugene Foudy installed her as joint-captain alongside the unquestionably leadership of Clare Hehir. Having secured County and Munster senior club success at such a young age with her native Scariff-Ogonnelloe along with adding a prestigious Ashbourne Cup medal as defensive anchor with UCC this year, the Banner County are fortunate to be fronted by a player with real burning desire to also make trophy hunting commonplace for Clare.

In terms of his initial pronouncements, things couldn’t be going any better for Eugene Foudy in his first year at the helm of Clare’s senior camogie side. As a timely barometer of progress, steering his native county to a first National League title since 2008 on Sunday is the ideal reward but it’s nothing that hadn’t been outlined and striven for since taking the reins last October.

A West Clare mother has outlined the trauma of fearing her daughter was going to die due to a two-hour delay in securing an ambulance in Kilrush last Sunday. The lack of adequate ambulance cover for  West Clare has been highlighted again this week after a very sick young child had to wait more than two hours at ShannonDoc in Kilrush for an ambulance to arrive.

A small manufacturing company in West Clare is rejoicing this week following the successful Artemis II mission to the far side of the moon. As the four NASA astronauts returned to Earth in the early hours of Saturday morning last week, many people in Clare would have been oblivious to the involvement that West Clare based Versiv Composites had with the mission.

Fuel protests could return to the M18 in the coming days with a leading campaigner warning that the central issues of the campaign have not gone away. Former ICSA general secretary and East Clare farmer Eddie Punch says that debates are taking place amongst local protesters about what to do next. Mr Punch, who was one of the speakers at last Sunday’s large protest gathering in Ennis, said that this issue hasn’t “gone away” and that “various different things” are being looked at.

Two councillors were told to “take it outside” if they wanted to continue arguing, as a council debate on the fuel protests turned heated. Cllrs Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) and Pat Bourke (FG) had to be repeatedly told by Mayor Paul Murphy to “cut it out” after Cllr Bourke accused Cllr Guilfoyle of inciting further blockades at a public meeting in Ennis.

The symbolic "clash of the ash" has met its match in Ogonnelloe when hurleys are being used in a creative way as part of a new "outdoor art gallery". Seven hurleys depicting different messages have been placed on dead or dying Ash trees on a picturesque two kilometre walk from Ogonnelloe GAA Club towards the banks of the north shores of Lough Derg.

A West Clare social worker who has returned from Jordan has said Gazan children are being mistreated by Israeli officials when they try to get home after medical treatment. Claire Liddy returned to Ballyea last week from a two-week volunteer mission in Amman, Jordan. She was part of a group that supported 600 to 700 children in an emergency accommodation centre who are being treated in local hospitals.

A centenarian from Kilmaley celebrated her milestone birthday in style over the Easter weekend. Clara Murphy was joined by over 60 family members and friends for her 100th birthday party last Saturday afternoon at the Old Ground Hotel. Clara was born on April 4, 1926, which was Easter Sunday. She attended Kilmaley National School, before she trained as a nurse in Dublin.

Sinn Fein are set to bring a motion of no confidence against the government on Tuesday afternoon over their handling of the fuel protests. The government have tabled a counter-motion of confidence in themselves as the Dáil returns from the Easter Break, following almost a week of national blockades and disruption to transport links, fuel deliveries and other supplies and infrastructure by fuel protestors.

A man was refused bail in court today after he was charged with breaching a security perimeter fence at Shannon Airport and causing criminal damage to a US military plane. Daithi O’Corrain, (47), Blarney Street, Cork City, appeared before Limerick District Court, Monday on three alleged criminal offences. Mr O’Corrain was charged with one count of causing criminal damage to a C130 Hercules aircraft, at Shannon Airport, on Saturday, April 11.

Clare County Council has said it plans to initiate a pilot programme in the coming weeks to trial the use of CCTV in detecting waste-management offences. This follows two motions concerning the roll-out of CCTV tabled by West Clare county councillors at a recent meeting of the West Clare Municipal District (MD). Recent public order incidents in Kilrush circulating on social media in particular have caused Councillor Ian Lynch (IND) to insist on the immediate reactivation of the public CCTV system there.

A Shannon priest has acknowledged people are lost for words following the death of local health campaigner James Johnston three years and four months after the loss of his beloved daughter Aoife. James Johnston, Cronan Lawn, Shannon, County Clare, passed away surrounded by his family in Milford Care Centre on April 3, following an illness. On Monday, December 19, 2022, Aoife (16) died at UHL, two days after presenting at the Emergency Department with symptoms of suspected sepsis as indicated in a GP letter.

Gardaí have issued a public appeal for new information about the murder of Clare woman Emer O’Loughlin, 21 years after her death. Wednesday, April 8 marked the 21st anniversary of the murder of the North Clare woman at Ballybornagh, Tubber, Clare in 2005. The remains of the 23-year-old were discovered in a mobile home that had been completely destroyed by fire close to where she lived at the time with her boyfriend.

Clare MEP Michael McNamara has called for the Government to introduce free public transport across Ireland, following the IMF’s warning that “all roads lead to higher prices and slower growth worldwide” should the conflict in the Middle East continue. “The Government’s call on households to cut fuel use is meaningless unless it concentrates on encouraging the public to use alternatives,” McNamara said.

Many of the people who took part in the fuel protests on the M18 in Clare last week are “exhausted” and “deflated” according to one of the key participants. Former chief executive of the ICSA, East Clare farmer Eddie Punch, says that some within the group want to continue the protest, while others need time to decide. There were no protests on the M18 in Clare today, but blockages and go-slows have been reported in Cork, Meath, Cavan, Kildare and Louth.

National Camogie League Division 1B Final Clare 3-11 Dublin 0-17 History in the making as Clare powered to a first ever National Camogie League Division 1B title in UPMC Nowlan Park, Kilkenny. Facing a Dublin side that they had drawn with in the opening round, it was another major physical battle that saw Clare have to dig crater deep against the gale in the opening period before three second half goals catapulted them to victory.

I was determined not to write another opinion piece about foreign affairs. Here I am though. Over the last couple of days the President of the USA upped his rhetoric against Iran from a threat that Tuesday would be bridge and power plant day, to a threat that he would bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, to a plainly genocidal threat that ‘a whole civilisation will die tonight never to be brought back again’.

There was a notable lack of supportive beeps on the Barefield exit of the M18 this Wednesday morning as a collection of tractors and lorries blocked both lanes of the motorway and the approach roads to the junction. Indeed, there is a strange parallel between this week’s two main news stories; the war in Iran and the fuel protests. When faced by overwhelming force, the Iranian Government has been hitting out.

In the distant past, way back in December 2022, a small research company called OpenAI, released a beta version of its Large Language Model (LLM) into the ether. Early users and tech reviewers heralded its arrival as a new dawn for humanity, an artificially intelligent system that would revolutionise our world, finding answers to our most challenging problems in health, energy and climate action.

A peaceful protest has been called for Ennis tomorrow morning as part of the ongoing action being undertaken by fuel protestors across the county. A statement issued today says that the peaceful protest will take place from 11am and people taking part are asked to gather on the outskirts of Ennis and other county towns. It is not clear at present what organisation has called for this protest to take place or if An Garda Síochána have been notified.

The 19th instalment of the Kilfenora Traditional Music Festival takes place from Friday, April 24 to Monday, April 27 in North Clare’s capital of trad. The festival began in 2009 with the centenary of the Kilfenora Céilí Band, who by tradition play for an open-air céilí in Kilfenora Square on the Sunday of the festival each year – one of the finest events in the Irish traditional music calendar.

Meister Eckhart was an interesting character. The German theologian and philosopher had this idea about a divine spark, a place within everyone that could, if we chose to see it, be God. This idea led him to coin the phrase ‘the place that has never been wounded’ and went a long way to having him accused of heresy by Pope John XXII in 1329.

When Reverend Dr Richard Marsh first came to look at St Flannan’s Cathedral with his wife Ro, a misty fog prevailed over Lough Derg in February 2023. However, Rev Marsh (66) was very impressed by the Killaloe Cathedral, describing the illuminating light as “really special” just a stone’s throw from the River Shannon. This was seven months before he was officially installed as the new Dean of Killaloe Cathedral and the Priest-In-Charge of Killaloe, Inniscaltra, Stradbally and Tuamgraney and Castleconnell.

Being a member of Macra has pushed Conor Liddy into putting himself forward and signing up for experiences he “never would have gone for”. The 31-year-old Sixmilebridge man will represent The Banner at the 19th annual Mr Personality Festival, organised by Kilkenny County Macra, from Friday, April 10 to Saturday, April 11. The festival, to be held in Langton’s Hotel, will see contestants traveling from all over Ireland in the hope of being crowned Mr Personality 2026.

One of Clare’s most successful arts organisations, the Ennistymon Choral Society, will celebrate its 50th production this year as it takes Disco Inferno to the stage. The society, which has been a central part of the cultural and community fabric in North Clare for decades, has recently welcomed scores of new members and is going from strength to strength. According to society treasurer, Brendan Keane, the group is more of a community of friends than a traditional choral society.

Twelve months on from losing last year's decider, Banner Joint Captain Clare Hehir tells the Clare Champion it's not a case of revenge this weekend but more a case of taking the next step. "I wouldn't say it's a revenge mission to be fair. Obviously losing the final last year hurt and it's great to be able to try right the wrongs of twelve months ago, but we're facing a different opponent this time.

Killaloe therapist and cycling enthusiast Orla Foley has clocked up more than €100,000 for three charitable causes in memory of her late brother. This figure will be exceeded when the proceeds of her latest major fundraiser ‘Cycle For Axel’ on April 25 are collected and added to this impressive total. In September 2020, Orla never anticipated she would raise so much money for charities under the umbrella of Orla's Wild Ways when she started this fundraising journey, cycling more than 3,000 kilometres along the Wild Atlantic Way.

All essential supplies shouldn't be inhibited from transport and road blockages erected during the fuel protests should be removed as a matter of urgency, according to a local Dáil Deputy. Road blocks are in place at Junction 11 and Junction 18 of the M18 Limerick to Galway motorway at Newmarket-on-Fergus and Barefield by fuel protesters. Deputy Cathal Crowe has confirmed he telephoned An Taoiseach Micheál Martin to relay messages he had received following meetings with separate groups of protesters who are based on both the northbound and southbound lanes of the M18 motorway on Thursday night.

The transformation of historic Hermitage in Ennis through the creation of a cul-de-sac and the development of additional parking for residents and local businesses could be on the way. Concept designs have been prepared and a senior engineer with the Ennis Municipal District has acknowledged the proposal will be of “significant benefit to the residents of the Hermitage area”. The joint proposal by Councillors Antoinette Baker Bashua (FF), Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) and Pat Daly (FF) seeking an examination of the conversion of the road on either side of Hermitage Green, adjacent to the Our Lady’s Grotto into a cul-de-sac was put forward at a recent meeting of the local authority.

It is taking some health professionals between four to six hours to get to work instead of the usual 30 minutes due to the ongoing fuel protests, a senior health manager has claimed. It has also been alleged that some patients are unable to attend critical health appointments due to the road blockades that have been put in place since the start of the fuel protests.