Ennis

ENNIS councillor Pat Daly has called on the Clare branch of Comhaltas to mount a major campaign in bringing Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann to Ennis in 2016. Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is the biggest traditional Irish music festival on the planet, a week-long jamboree of music, song and dance. And the Fianna Fail councillor has asked his colleagues on the council to back the bid that would bring thousands of visitors and millions of euro to the town in two years time. “We just missed out by two votes on securing the Fleadh in 2014 and Sligo is hosting it again next year, but Ennis is the ideal centre for the Fleadh, as we emerge slowly from recession,” Cllr Daly told the Ennis Municipal district meeting. Cllr Daly outlined the work carried out by Sligo whose county councillors were to the fore in lobbying for the Fleadh at the Comhaltas Congress and pursued their interest by lobbying people all over …

THE passing of actor Richard Kiel, best known to filmgoers as the steel-incisored villain “Jaws” in two 1970s James Bond films, has prompted a resident from the Bushy Park area of Ennis to recall his days on film sets with the Detroit -born 7’2″ colossus. David Coley, who spent his working life on film sets all over the world, met the late 74-year-old actor while working on the Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979). David began his early career in construction before landing a job making sets and props at Pinewood Studios. He worked his way up the career ladder working on the film ‘stage’ and then going on location to build the sets and any props that were needed, before progressing to working with the camera crew as a stand-by ‘chippy’. “If they wanted a the camera on a roof it was your job to get it up there safely,” David explained David’s first …

IT was the end of an era on Monday for some of Clare’s best known credit unions as St Francis Credit Union in Ennis, Ss Peter & Paul Credit Union, Clarecastle, and Fergus Credit Union, Lissycasey, amalgamated into one credit union with total savings of more than €150 million. And that may not be the end of amalgamation in Clare and the wider region as Caherdavin Credit Union takes in the Shannon Development Credit Union, and Southill and St John’s credit unions in Limerick. The moves follow the introduction of new regulations by the Central Bank, now responsible for the country’s 460 credit unions. “In the future smaller credit unions aren’t going to survive because there’s so much regulation coming in and the smaller credit unions won’t be able to afford the cost of regulation,” said outgoing St Peter & Paul’s Credit Union director, Dermot Moloney, who has served his local credit union for the past 38 years. Indeed, the …

ENNIS Municipal District has backed a call for Clare County Council to freeze commercial rates at their current level in the old Ennis Town Council area for the next three years, to give stability to businesses, in order for them to grow and expand. Councillor Tom McNamara raised the matter at the monthly district meeting, telling members that businesses in the town need a timeframe so they would know exactly where they stand for the next three years, allowing them to “expand their businesses and create growth” and job creation. The Kilmaley councillor asked the meeting to back his motion and to allow it to go to the full council meeting, saying, “We need to give them [Ennis businesses] the security to know that Clare County Council won’t be increasing the rates in the town for three years at least and to hope the economy will improve in that time. Then we can have a relook at it and people …

ENNIS woman, Maureen Cronin from Mountain View has proven that age is no barrier when honoured at the 2014 Hidden Hearing Heroes Awards ceremony in Dublin which celebrate those who made a significant, and often unheralded, contribution to society. RTE personality Brenda Donohue presented the 92-year-old with the ‘Age Is No Barrier Award’. Maureen was recognised for having played a key role in getting the marriage ban lifted for school teachers in 1950s Ireland. She became a test case for the INTO Teachers’ Union when she defied the ban and carried on teaching in Limerick for a full year without pay, then continuing her career until well after the ban was eventually lifted in 1958. Proving that age is no barrier, the Kerry native delivers parish newsletters to the local shops, writes poetry for The Clare Champion and plays several musical instruments at parish events. She was also featured on RTE’s programme Nationwide recently. Speaking at the function Brenda Donohue, RTE said, …

A Marie Keating Foundation mobile information unit, staffed by a trained nurse, will be at Midwestern Regional Hospital, Ennis on this Thursday from 11am to 3pm. This service is available to both men and women and is free of charge. The mobile unit is equipped with take-home information leaflets on each of the key cancers. The Marie Keating nurse can also provide practical advice on healthy lifestyle choices. The nurse will give cancer information presentations on the unit and use practical awareness tools such as the smokerlyzer, tar in a jar and body fat and scales to help to illustrate health massages. The trained nurse can talk to people on a one-to-one basis in a private area on board about any concerns that they might have about cancer, either for themselves or for someone else, such as a family member or friend. For more information see www.mariekeating.ie.

WORK began this week on a one-way traffic system on Lifford Road, known locally as Dr Daly Road, in Ennis. The work is expected to be completed in two weeks. Dr Daly Road is the road that runs alongside the Fair Green from New Road (at the CBS Primary School) to Lifford Road (near St Joseph’s Hospital). Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Johnny Flynn, who grew up in the area, has welcomed the new system and said the end-result should be a safer road for everyone, particularly the huge numbers of schoolchildren attending primary and secondary schools. “There was a need to do something because the New Road, which is at the bottom of the road being made one-way, houses over 1,100 students. It also has the courthouse, the county council headquarters and, most importantly, the central fire station is there. “Over the last five or 10 years, significant delays have been reported for the firefighters being able to respond to …

A Special Branch at  Ennis Garda Station are going back to grass roots and conducting house-to-house enquiries as they search for clues following the theft of a tree from a private garden in Ennis. It seems that gardaí will find it difficult to see the wood from the trees in their search, as speculation is that the stolen item may have been replanted. The Norwegian Maple tree was stolen from a garden at Pearse Avenue in Cloughleigh between 8pm on Tuesday, August 19 and 12.30pm on Wednesday, August 20. The tree stood at approximate eight to ten feet tall and had a trunk width of between four to eight inches. Superintendent Derek Smart of Ennis Garda Station described the tree as “sizable”. “It appears that the tree was just uprooted and I’d say it wasn’t long purchased. It was an unusual tree. We are asking if someone was offered this to contact us. We have carried out house-to-house enquiries and …