Today's Clare Champion reports that the notable folk song collector Jim Carroll was taken from his home at 2am on Wednesday by a gang calling itself the 'West Clare Taliban'. The gang broke into the house by hurling a garden gnome through a ground floor window then raced upstairs to grab Carroll, who, according to his partner Pat, was sorting through his newspaper clippings to determine whether Ewan MacColl's original name really was Henry.

A garbled message was subsequently received by the Champion stating that Carroll would only be released either 'When Our Rivers Run Free' or, in the interim, if £5000 was left in a Dunne's carrier bag in the litter bin opposite Henry's Cafe in Ennis.

Meanwhile fears grow for the nonagenarian who, according to Pat, is unlikely to survive more than six hours without a dose of MacColl.