Shannon Office

The Shannon office is full-time, and is open form 9.30 – 5.00 p.m. We have three part time staff and four part time volunteers.

The Clarecare Shannon office has three strands:

• The Clarecare Office
• The Clarecare Citizens Information Centre
• The Clarecare Community Office

The Clarecare Office

• As a Clarecare office, we hold details of all the Clarecare services county wide, and can refer a member of the public to the appropriate person or service.
• We keep details such as times and contact persons for A.A. and Al. Anon meetings, lists of counsellors, Information on Drug and Alcohol Treatment programmes and supports etc.
• Management of the bookings for the various Clarecare holiday houses is done from the Shannon Clarecare office. Various groups use the houses for Social and Community work, for holiday breaks for the elderly, work with Mental Health groups, training for Home Help workers etc. Clarecare staff members use the houses extensively for social work and family support work.
• There are three “holiday houses” – St. Joseph’s House, Lahinch, McAuley House, Spanish Point, and Liddane House, Kilkee.
• The Shannon office is used extensively by Clarecare staff – Social workers, Family Support and Childcare workers, and by the Clarecare Home Help coordinator, who uses a room for interviews for Home Help workers. We take part in the interview process. We take appointments for her as required.
• We act as a contact point for people to leave in their details for the Christmas Hamper Scheme, which is run by the Lions Club in Shannon. We liaise with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul on this.
• We network with, and maintain good working relationships with the Community Welfare Officers, the H.S.E., Social Welfare Officers, the Gardai, Clare Co.Council, and the Homeless Unit in Shannon. We liaise with MABS, and we refer clients to MABS, as MABS do to us.
• In common with the other Clarecare offices, we organise and facilitate the annual Church Gate collection. This includes recruiting and maintaining a panel of collectors from the area and the accounting and lodgement of funds collected.

The Clarecare Citizens Information Centre

• The Shannon Clarecare office incorporates a full time Citizens Information Centre, part of the national network of Citizens Information Centres, supported and part funded by Comhairle. We deal with an average of 1,000 queries per month. We provide information, advice, advocacy and referral services on rights, services available, employment law and rights, entitlements and options available to people. This is a free and confidential service, which the local people are well aware of, and very appreciative of.
• We provide forms and booklets on all services and entitlements, and are available for form filling, and making contact with various agencies and government departments on behalf of our clients, as required.
• This C.I.C. has access to the T.D. Helpline on behalf of clients with queries on Illness and Disability. We also have a “hotline” to the Immigrant Council in Dublin. The negotiation of both these concessions has made a great difference to our ability to progress queries for our clients.
• We provide an advocacy service for the public as required eg we carry out appeals of adverse decisions by various government department with regard to payments and entitlements, we type letters and make phone calls for clients regarding their entitlements. We advise and facilitate clients in preparing cases for the Rights Commissioners, the Employment Appeals Tribunal, and the Ombudsman.
• A huge and very demanding part of our work at present concerns our “new nationals”, many of whom are now out of work and trying to access Social Welfare and H.S.E. payments. When the newcomers arrived, they needed information on everything from Work Permits to lists of housing for rent, schools, educational opportunities and supports.
• We have set up an extensive database of local information on all relevant subjects for the public including new nationals coming to live in the area. This database is constantly updated and has proved very popular.
• We play an important role as a feedback service to Comhairle, in our Social Policy work, and in doing so, in conjunction with other C.I.C’s, have sometimes influenced change for the better.
• We publish a “Rights column” in the local newspaper – the “Clare Courier”. This brings a lively response and is very well received by the people of Shannon and surrounding villages.
• We take part in local radio programmes from time to time, usually on a topical subject – the last programme was “Everything about Redundancy”.

The Clarecare Community Office

• This office has been, and continues to be, central to the growth and development of Shannon Town from its infancy. We have always prided ourselves on being adaptable, flexible, responsive to change, and open to new challenges as they arise. As such, we provide a very extensive list of services to the community.
• One of the first of these services provided by the Shannon Community Office was the Shannon Diary, now running without a break for over 40 years, and thriving!. The Diary is run as a Community Service, providing as it does, notices about classes, workshops, support groups in the area, activities and also lists of service persons, childminders, accommodation for rent, and small items for sale!. The Diary is set up, prepared for the printers, budgeted for and distributed from this office. The Diary is delivered to each house in Shannon, and some Diaries are sent to outlying villages. The Diary is self funding and at present, is managing to pay for itself. However, printing costs continue to rise so, we have to look for ways of increasing income from it. We now deliver flyers, with the Shannon Diary and this helps fund it. We have a list of young people who distribute the Diary for us, helped and supported by their parents.
• We keep extensive lists of local groups and organisations and a contact person for each. These lists need constant updating.
• We keep up to date lists of rented housing, and details of various Clare Co. Council housing initiatives.
• We keep lists of doctors, dentists, schools, crèches, playschools, alternative therapists, clergy, and solicitors.
• We set up a Free Legal Advice Clinic in this office some years ago, facilitated by a panel of local solicitors, who give their services free of charge, as recognition of the status of Clarecare in the life of Shannon. This Clinic is consistently busy, and is much appreciated by the public.