Local Authorities in Clare will host a joint homecoming event for the Clare Senior and Under 21 hurlers tomorrow after winning their All-Ireland titles.

Win or lose, both Cork and Clare are planning big homecoming bashes after the two counties do battle again today in the replay of the All-Ireland hurling final.

The operator of the network of Twist soup kitchens has avoided the threat of jail by shutting down his Ennis operation.

From scaling mountain peaks to iconic global landmarks — Cork and Clare hurling fans are going to great lengths and heights to show their true colours ahead of tomorrow’s All-Ireland showdown.

It’s a long way from Botswana to the Banner County, but one Clare hurling fan is determined to see his adopted team lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup this weekend.

A local authority has told the operator of a network of soup kitchens that he could face a six-month prison term or a large fine if convicted of operating an unauthorised soup kitchen in Ennis.

The buildup to Sunday’s All Ireland is reaching fever pitch in Clare with a fan invasion of Ennis town centre expected for the match.

The operator of a soup kitchen network claimed he was warned not to set up in Ennis, Co Clare, as a woman there allegedly warned him that “she didn’t want any blacks, winos, or Travellers” in the town.

Clare’s county town has put in place additional security measures to ensure there is no re-occurrence of homeless men sleeping in the town’s €70,000 per annum superloos.

In April of this year, the disclosure that Josef Pavelka, a homeless Czech national, was living in the superloos with a Polish friend in Ennis received national attention.

A judge has put in place a “get tough” policy with people illegally parking in disabled parking spaces — by taking them off the road for six months.

JOSEF PAVELKA died last week, a celebrity and a ‘nobody’.

A judge said yesterday that nobody here can be proud of the life Josef Pavelka had in Ireland, despite the man’s self-inflicted problems.

Prominent Green Party member Brian Meaney, one of the party’s three remaining county councillors, has confirmed his application to join Fianna Fáil has been accepted.

President Michael D Higgins has been made a freeman of a town he used to reach by cycling eight miles every morning during his schooldays.

Contracts for the construction of a €7.1m flood defence system for the town of Ennis were signed yesterday — more than three years after the devastating floods of Nov 2009.

The green light has been given for the construction of a private €60m hospital in Ennis that will create 700 jobs.

Cash-strapped local authorities were forced to bail out Glór music centre in Ennis to deal with the centre’s accumulated losses last year.

There are “no knives” out for embattled Health Minister James Reilly, insisted a Labour Party Cabinet colleague last night, as opposition parties moved to try and oust him.

Health Minister James Reilly faces political exile after Opposition parties announced plans to table a motion of no confidence in him.

With reference to the article (Irish Examiner, Apr 5), Ms Jenniefr Hough states that ‘To be clear, Cllr Paul O’Shea wasn’t asking that all convicts have benefits withdrawn — just Travellers’.

A senior member of Ennis Town Council has hit out at “Prada-wearing Travellers”, saying that any Travellers convicted of being involved in feuds should have their social welfare entitlements withdrawn.

A hotel, hairdressing salon, pub, farm and service station are among a number of businesses that will see their water disconnected in the coming weeks.

A local authority in Co Clare has become the first outside of Dublin to introduce a cashless pay and display system which accepts credit cards.

A proposed €30 million retail development will not impact on the commercial heart of a county town, it has been claimed.

MUHAMMAD Ali’s Irish ancestral home of Ennis is not forgetting the boxing legend as he approaches his 70th birthday.

ENNIS has been portrayed as a racist town in the aftermath of the assault on a Nigerian taxi driver, the mayor of Ennis has claimed.

OVER 70 potential retail units in a county town are vacant, independent retailer representative body RGDATA has claimed.

THE promoter of contentious plans for a €34 million retail development for Ennis is making a late bid to win the hearts and minds of the public ahead of a crucial vote on the development.

A CHAMBER of commerce has described a proposal to zone additional land for an out-of-town retail centre as “quite remarkable”.

THE chief executive of Ennis Chamber of Commerce, Rita McInerney, has expressed concern over the “doughnut effect” in the town due to the negative impact of out-of-town retail centres.

THE chairman of the Ennis Sculpture Initiative fears the town may lose out on a €40,000 sculpture depicting a market-day scene.

A BID by one of the country’s surviving Green Party public representatives that cyclists be exempt from one-way directions on certain streets in Ennis has hit the buffers.

MEMBERS of Ennis Town Council have stopped short of erecting a 12-foot fence around new €450,000 playing facilities in response to continuing anti-social behaviour.

THE closure of 13 businesses in Clare’s county town, in addition to 70 vacant units, has led to a new Ennis initiative to help it “trade out of the recession”.

PLANNERS in Ennis are scratching their heads as to why a well-known developer has lodged two almost identical applications for a €40 million retail park.

REVENUES at one of the best known construction companies in the mid-west plummeted 70% last year as it felt the downturn in the construction sector.

ENNIS Town Council has put on hold contentious plans for a €40 million retail park.

BUSINESS associations along with independent traders’ body, RGDATA, and An Taisce are opposing plans for a €40 million retail park on the outskirts of Clare’s county town.

THE members of Ennis Town Council last night agreed to request the Office of Public Works (OPW) to investigate the possibility of purchasing a town centre site co-owned by developer Bernard McNamara for a knock-down price.

A COUNCILLOR forced to use a dinghy to access his flooded home has lodged plans for five detached houses close to his Ennis residence.

SEPARATE Garda investigations are continuing into suspected arson attacks on houses in Kerry and Clare.