Ennis

ENNIS town councillors have called for new legislation that would compel all applicants to the HSE for rent subsidy, or those currently in receipt of rent subsidy, to undergo garda vetting.

FEARS that one of the town’s longstanding and most respected family run businesses would be closing to facilitate demolition and building works were allayed this week by the Madden family.

WORK to construct a pedestrian walkway at the Quin Road Railway Bridge adjacent to Ennis Train Station will start in the near future, according to Clare County Council.

A GROUP of 24 pupils and three teachers from St Flannan’s College took part in Euroscola in Strasbourg this week.

THE Sisters of Mercy have been teaching in Ennis since 1854, so the retirement of Sr Angela McMahon from the Holy Family Senior National School was particularly poignant yet bittersweet as it signalled the end of over a century and a half of teaching by the order. Sr Angela, who is from Connolly but who now lives at Ros an Óir, has put down 42 years with the Holy Family School but retired this year having taught her final class in June. The senior school had been under the stewardship of the Sisters of Mercy up until 1996 when Sr Áine Ní Riain retired and Margaret Cooney took up as the first lay principal there. The order continued to head the junior school up until 2007 when Sr Betty O’Riordan retired and Sharon Dilger became the first lay principal there. Speaking about retirement, Sr Angela said she enjoyed every minute of her teaching career and outlined that it was in …

THE owner of the Ennis allotments on the Tulla Road is expanding the initiative to include a nature trail, aimed at teaching young people and their parents about the importance of biodiversity and protecting our environment.Jimmy Spellisy has been running the Ennis allotments for over two years and says that the demand is definitely there to expand the initiative. “I have been offering a nature trail in the surrounds of the allotments in recent times but it’s time now to promote the idea and encourage people to come and take part in this healthy and interesting activity,” Mr Spellisy said.The nature trail runs down into the Doora Flood Plains and the Cappahard Flood Plains, including the grounds of Cappahard House, the Ennis allotments and Mr Spellisy eventually wants to see it incorporate the river. “I intend that it will showcase such a biodiverstiy through the allotments and the flood plains. The wildlife in this area is spectacular. It will also …

FIRE crews from Ennis, Scariff and Kilrush had to be drafted in by Clare County Council to augment the water supply for more than 30,000 consumers last weekend, following failures at the new €9.8 million Ennis Water Treatment Plant.

DEFENCE Minister Tony Killeen has been asked to intervene in the possible transfer of staff, mainly nurses, from Ennis hospital to tackle staffing shortages at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick.