The Government is again being urged to provide long-term funding for respite care at Bawnmore as the Brothers of Charity confirm that the service will reopen on the 16t of August.

However Clare and Limerick families that avail of respite are unhappy at calls for them to fund raise 100 thousand euro to ensure the centre remains open next year and believe that this money should come from the state.

Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey says its unacceptable that vulnerable people should be asked to come up with the money

Prize Bond Holders in Clare are being urged to check their bond numbers as thousand of euro of prizes are stil unclaimed.

The county is one of the luckiest in Ireland with over 800 thousand euro won by holders here in 2009, half a million of that was to one resident alone.

However The Prize Bond Company says just over 2,600 euro of 2009 wins remains unclaimed by Clare Prize Bond holders.

Motorists could soon have to fork out to use Clare's national roads such as the N 68 Ennis to Kilrush or N 85 Ennis to Ennistymon.

Extending motorway tolls to national roads is one of a series of proposals being put to the government in order to make savings of half a billion Euro.

The other measures in the Bord Snip Style Report include the amalgamation of a number of local authorities and a reduction in county managers and an increase in the cost of a driving licence and extra levies for those who don't pay motor tax online.

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Efforts to develop the economic fortunes of West Clare with a particular focus on tourism has been launched.

The West Clare Economic Task Force aims to identify actions that would assist in improving the economic status of the region.

It's based on several key areas of focus including developing economic incubation centres and insuring that tourism can deliver and focus on providing additional jobs as well as improving infrastructure including broadband.

It's claimed Clare County Council's long housing list has been worsened by the growing number of home repossessions.

Calls are being made for Central government to release funds to the Council to purchase homes in Clare, with news that over 2,500 people are awaiting council housing.

The figure covers County Clare but doesn't include housing lists in the Ennis or Kilrush local authority areas.

 Ardnacrusha Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald says the situation could get worse.

Clare County Council has undertaken a major new promotional initiative to try and reverse the county's growing dole queues.

Connect With Clare profiles the county as a location for Foreign Direct Investment and multinational activity.
 
The local authority hopes that selling the region as an  "International Hub for Innovation, Creativity it could lead to major job creation.

There's further evidence of the ongoing downturn in the construction sector in Clare ..

New figures show the number of new builds across the county fell by 45 percent in the first six months of this year, compared to the same period in 2009.

The survey also shows that of the 243 new buildings completed in the county this year only 14 were new commercial premises.

Dara Keogh, General Manager at GeoDirectory, which compiled the figures, says while Clare builds have almost halved on last year, its a similar situation nationwide

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House prices in Clare are continuing to fall .

The latest survey from Daft.ie show that asking prices in the county during the second quarter of this year was an average of 201 thousand euro, a fall of  91 thousand from the peak.

Overall in Munster the asking prices fell by 3.3 percent from April to June- Nationally the average fall was around 4 percent but 37 percent since the peak

The Enterprise Minister insists there's ongoing engagement between the government and the Mid West Taskforce in implementing its recommendations.

There's been strong criticism that the findings of the group, set up in the wake of several high profile job losses in Shannon and Limerick have been largely ignored since being presented to the then Minister Mary Coughlin.

Cars are returning to the main streets of Ennis today following short-lived pedestrianisation trials.

Ennis businesses were successful in their calls for Ennis Town Council to end the car free trials after just six weeks, as they reported losses of up to 50% over recent weekends.

The Ennis Town Manager has pledged to continue working with traders to pedestrionise O'Connell and Abbey street in the future, but businesses are watching their tills today to see if sales have been boosted by the return of town centre traffic.