Ennis

The Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan, has formally announced the establishment of the Centre for School Leadership (CSL), which will be headquartered in Ennis. It is being established for an initial pilot period of three years, with an investment of almost €3m over that time. It will be operated on a partnership basis between the Department of Education and Skills, the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) and the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD). The CSL is intended to become a centre of excellence for school leaders, and the partnership will have many benefits for the profession in terms of the quality of training programmes, coordination of provision, and increased accessibility. The centre will be headed by a director ,who will be an experienced school principal. He or she will be supported by two other experienced school leaders, one each from the primary and post-primary sectors. The team will be recruited in the coming weeks. The …

Ennis will undergo one of the largest ever community-clean-ups in the history of the town this coming Saturday when businesses, community groups, sports organisations and residents hit the streets to pick up litter. Ennis Tidy Towns Committee, supported by Ennis Chamber of Commerce and Clare County Council, is calling on the people of the town and surrounding areas to show their civic pride by turning up on the day to lend their support to the initiative which is aimed at enhancing the county capital’s chances of becoming Ireland’s Tidiest Town. The weekend clean-up forms part of ‘On The Move To Become Ireland’s Tidiest Town’, a community-wide campaign launched earlier this month to help Ennis achieve national success in the 2015 SuperValu TidyTowns Competition. The clean-up takes place from 11am to 1pm with groups, businesses and individuals interested in taking part asked to gather at 10am in the grounds of Áras Contae an Chláir on the New Road. Groups carrying out …

THE three-day INIS Fest music festival, planned for Tim Smythe Park in Ennis at the end of June has been cancelled. The announcement was made over the weekend and follows two meetings between the festival organisers, Impresario Events Limited, and local residents. The residents had expressed their serious concerns about security, noise and traffic management issues, and their fears of possible anti-social behaviour and damage to their property, while questioning the legality of selling alcohol to as many as 3,500 patrons on the publicly-owned Fair Green in Ennis where drinking alcohol is banned. In a statement on their website, Impresario Events, say following numerous consultations with residents in the vicinity of the festival venue, they have decided that a number of ongoing concerns of residents required to be addressed before a festival of this nature can take place. “We are disappointed that such a positive event for the town of Ennis is not going ahead at this time but we …

MEMBERS from The Junction Youth and Community Group in Ennis recently attended a film-making workshop in Westside Resource Centre, Galway City, ahead of their entry to the X-HALE Youth Awards 2015. X-HALE is an initiative developed by the Irish Cancer Society to encourage young people to take action on the issue of smoking in their own communities. As part of X-HALE, the Irish Cancer Society hosts the annual X-HALE Youth Awards, which sees youth groups from around the country enter community action projects and film projects around the issue of smoking. A number of youth groups attended the filming workshop in preparation of their film entries to the X-HALE Youth Awards in the summer to learn about film producing and editing. All of the youth groups involved in the film and community action workshops have received grants from the Irish Cancer Society to develop their project. In total this year, 36 groups have received funding from the Irish Cancer Society …

LITTLE progress was made by either side at the second public meeting between residents living in the Fair Green area of Ennis and the organisers of the three-day INISFest 2015, which is due to take place at the end of June. At the meeting on Tuesday night at Tom Steele’s bar in Ennis, a number of residents continued to voice their concerns over having a three-day music festival on their doorsteps, citing noise and a marquee selling drink to 3,500 patrons – despite a ban on alcohol consumption in the public park – their fears of being blocked in their own homes, of their property being damaged and anti-social behaviour in the area before and after events. The two-hour meeting, called by event organisers Impresario Events Limited, was chaired by broadcaster Ger Sweeney, who said it was important to have new events that would put Ennis on the map and would lead to people talking about the town for all …

A KILNAMONA-based couple, who operate a tourism business, have to run it from a variety of cafés in Ennis, due to the lack of broadband where they live. Henry Wilkinson has told The Clare Champion that they would not have moved to Kilnamona had they been aware that broadband access was an issue. “Had we known back in December that there was no broadband in the area, we would not have taken a year’s lease. My fiancée and I recently moved to the area to be closer to her parents. We run our own tourism-based business and urgently need access to fast, reliable broadband,” Mr Wilkinson explained. The absence of broadband has resulted in the couple having to work from Ennis. “Over the past four months, we have been making daily trips to Ennis to sit in coffee shops and try and run our business, which is expensive and not ideal. Where do we go from here? Will broadband be …

LOCAL community group representatives and members of the business community in Ennis gathered in the Old Ground Hotel this week for the launch of an initiative aimed at enhancing the Clare county town’s chances of becoming Ireland’s tidiest town. Ennis Tidy Towns Committee launched its new website, www.ennistidytowns.com, and a community-wide campaign called On The Move To Become Ireland’s Tidiest Town, to help Ennis achieve national success in the 2016 competition. The three-year plan aims to address new criteria of the competition, including waste management and biodiversity. The initiative also features a heavy focus on community involvement and encouraging local residents, community groups and businesses to work together to improve the overall appearance of the town. The first major initiative being undertaken as part of the plan takes place on April 18, when communities will be invited to participate in a large clean-up that is being facilitated by Clare County Council, in conjunction with An Garda Síochána, The Lions Club, Clare …

A LARGE number of Dunnes Stores workers in Ennis were on the picket line this Thursday morning, as part of the national bid to force senior management to the negotiating table. Dunnes Stores staff nationwide are seeking secure hours and earnings; job security; fair pay; and the right to trade union representation. At the heart of the dispute is 15 hour contracts which can be spread over five days and prevent them from getting family income supplement or the dole. The striking workers in Ennis mounting two pickets, front and back of the store, say the response from shoppers and passers-by this morning has been brilliant. “It’s going very good and has started very well,” said a representative of the picketers who didn’t want to be named. “There’s a brilliant response. We’re getting a lot of support from people passing by and people have come up to the entrance in their cars and driven off again,” she told The Clare …