Ennis

CLARE County Council has been asked by Ennis Councillor Johnny Flynn to give a progress report on adopted notices of motions at the Ennis East Electoral Area Committee since the local elections in June 2009 at each bimonthly meeting.Councillor Flynn said that the purpose of his request is to improve efficiency of delivery of service and to avoid duplication. Ennis town clerk, Eddie Power, responded that it is the general policy and practice to respond positively to notice of motions in preparing a reply. “Consideration has to be given to the particular circumstances and to the availability of financial resources,” he said.With that in mind, he said that the council is not in a position to establish a tracking process or reporting procedure in respect of motions adopted at area committee level. “In practice, proposers of motions are in the best position to know if action required in particular circumstances was or was not carried out. Having regard to the …

CUSACK Lawn man Joe Dillon has landed himself a job after proving to a potential employer what he was capable of.Joe, who has an intellectual disability, has a wealth of experience of working in a catering environment and was keen to find work in Ennis. He went to Clare Supported Employment Service (CSES), a FÁS-funded agency that provides a free and innovative recruitment service for job-seekers with a disability and businesses in County Clare. Joe wanted to explore employment options that might be open to him. Employment facilitator at CSES, Lorraine Hughes soon got a good idea of his capabilities, skills and interests and approached Hillary Davis, owner of Barney’s Kidzclub, Ennis, to discuss the potential of an unpaid work trial for Joe.Keen to give Joe an opportunity to show what he could do, Hilary gave Joe his chance to shine by taking him on as a general assistant in her children’s activity centre, café, deli and sandwich bar. As …

TOWN Council officials and building contractors Gildoc Ltd signed the contract for the new youth and community resource building at Cloughleigh Road last Friday.

The Minister for Older People and Health Promotion, Minister Áine Brady, has confirmed to Fine Gael’s deputy spokesperson on foreign affairs, Pat Breen that the development of a dementia unit at the Clarecastle Day Care Centre is not “considered an immediate priority”.

VANDALS have damaged the hands of a sculpture in the Remembrance Garden in Cloughleigh. Last Thursday, Anne McCullagh, who was one of the parents instrumental in establishing the garden 10 years ago, discovered the damage to the statue on a visit to the garden.The hands of the statue, which are joined in a prayer-like pose, were broken apart and knocked off. “This is so upsetting. Why would anyone do this? It’s not the first time vandals have damaged the statue, or got at other parts of the garden, including the plants. I’m sick to the teeth of this now. People have no respect,” she said. She said that people who work in stone-masonry have told her that it would have taken anybody a long time to cause this kind of damage to the statue. “Part of the hands have literally been hacked off. Surely somebody must have seen someone or a group up to no good in the garden,” she …

ENNIS will host its own mini-World Cup this Sunday, with 12 multicultural teams from all over Clare vying for a place in the semi-final, which will be part of the county’s Intercultural Festival the following weekend.Alphonse Basogomba of the Clare Intercultural Festival explained that there has been a soccer tournament as part of the festival each year since the festival began six years ago. “It’s always a very popular part of the festival, but this year to capture some of the World Cup fever, we decided to make it into Clare’s own mini World Cup. So 12 teams will be narrowed down to four this Sunday, coinciding with the real World Cup Final,” he said.The mini-World Cup will be played this Sunday afternoon in the Ennis Leisure World on the Showgrounds Road. “Many different countries will be represented on teams including Nigeria, South Africa, France, Poland and Ireland as well as Travellers. Some teams will be of mixed nationalities, while …

A SIX-month Saturday pedestrianisation plan for Ennis town centre has been abandoned after six weeks.At a meeting of the town council on Monday evening, which was attended by a large group of Ennis traders, councillors voted six to three against the continuation of the trial after the business community cited a reduction in business on Saturdays when the streets were closed for six hours to vehicles. Ennis town manager Ger Dollard said that it was “disappointing” that the council could not complete the trial, which would have “provided a solid base for delivering on one of the core objectives of the Ennis Town Development Plan 2008-2014, namely the pedestrianisation of O’Connell Street and Abbey Street”. He continued, “Review mechanisms had been put in place to assess the effects of the trial on trading and consumer attitudes. However, this review will now not be possible due to the discontinuation of the trial.”The town manager added that the council was not abandoning …

AN Ennis businesswoman helped to make a dream wedding for Irish rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll and actress Amy Huberman at the weekend.Wedding planner, Kate Deegan, landed the plum jobs of helping the celebrity couple plan their big day, in Lough Rynn, Leitrim on Friday.Kate runs wedding planning service Co-ordination Made Easy and was voted as wedding planner of the year in 2009 by Realweddings.ie and shortlisted as one of Ireland’s top 100 wedding suppliers in 2009 by weddingsonline.ie. Speaking after Brian and Amy’s wedding this week, Kate said that the wedding was amazing. “I worked very closely with the couple and listen to what they would like. They had some very clear idea of what they would like and then in some areas I was able to give direction and suggestions of which were taken on board.”On the morning of the wedding, Kate had intimate access with the bride helping Amy into her wedding dress.Kate said that Amy was “so …