Ennis

REDUCING the rate of €1.30 per hour that applies in most of the main car parks in Ennis would have serious financial consequences for Clare County Council. That was the message from Director of Services Ger Dollard at Tuesday’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District. Mr Dollard claimed that research showed that a drop of ten cents would result in a loss of income of in the region of €80,000 to €90,000. He was responding to Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy who put forward a motion asking that for a trial period a universal parking fee of €1 per hour be introduced throughout the town to enable a comparison with the same period one year previously. A written reply to her motion from the Council’s Barry Keating stated, “Parking income is an integral part of Clare County Council’s budget and is necessary in order to balance the resources available and the demands that are being place on the Council. Any potential …

TENSION: Sunday’s county final will feature plenty of it. Much of it will emanate from players and management but amongst those feeling the heat most will be the parents. Some sit and watch quietly. Others sit but struggle to keep a lid on it. Step forward Trisha Ryan, mother of Éire Óg defender, Dean and one of five Éire Óg mothers The Clare Champion battled to get a word in edgeways with last weekend. Such is her fervour, she sometimes gets into rows she doesn’t even recall being involved in. An opposition handbag bounced off her after Éire Óg’s semi-final win over Kilmurry-Ibrickane. “People told me afterwards that someone hit me with a handbag on the way out but I was so happy that Éire Óg won, I never felt anything,” she recalled. A former footballer and camogie player herself, Trisha is not slow in offering advice from the stand. “From playing myself, I’d be saying ‘get back and mark …

A trip to Cusack Park to watch Cratloe beat Crusheen in the Clare county senior hurling final was among the highlights of a three-day visit to Ennis by a group from Langenfeld in Germany. The group, comprising four students and their leader, Matthias Beck, were hosted by Clare County Council’s Twinning Committee as part of the Ennis-Langenfeld Twinning Programme for 2014. Ennis and Langenfeld were officially twinned earlier this year on St. Patrick’s Day, when the Mayors of both locations signed a Twinning Charter. Since and before this, numerous sporting, educational, political and cultural exchanges have taken place. During their trip to Ennis and Clare at the weekend, the German group also visited the Cliffs of Moher, the Clare Family Resource Centre and Áras Contae an Chláir, where they met with a number of staff from Clare County Council. The group also enjoyed a private walking tour of Ennis. Chairperson of the Twinning Committee, Councillor Michael Begley acknowledged that twinning …

MAYOR Johnny Flynn is set to ask Clare County Council to back a Seanad reform proposal that would relocate the Upper House of the Oireachtas to Ennis. Cllr Flynn will ask the municipal district to back his proposal, in line with the electorate’s decision last year to see the Seanad reformed rather than abolished. The questions surrounding the future of the Seanad remain a year later, Mayor Flynn said, and he is set to put a possible solution on the agenda of next week’s Ennis Municipal District meeting. Noting the recent reform of local government, he will call on Clare County Council to seek urgent and meaningful reform of central Government, starting with the relocation of Seanad Éireann. The Seanad in the west would act as a counterbalance to the Dail in Dublin, he believes. Senator Martin Conway agrees the proposal has merit. “I welcome Mayor Flynn’s extremely interesting proposals on Seanad reform. The people voted in October 2013 to …

A YOUNG Ennis mother, who is planning to take part in a rugged charity cycling event in Uganda in November, has been given some inspiration by a local life coach. Life coach, Conor J Flynn has offered to host a fundraiser seminar and workshop for Marta Kubik at the Roslevan Community Hall on October 12. Marta is taking part in the World Vision Uganda fundraising cycle, from November 13 to 22, and plans to cycle a total of 315km through the mountainous region of North Rukiga in the south-west of Uganda. The money she raises will go towards helping the communities she meets along her journey to create a better future. To take part and to help the Ugandan communities she will meet, Marta needs to raise as much money as she can and Conor has stepped in to help her. Conor will host the workshop in Roslevan from 6.30pm on Sunday week. The motivational one-off event will inspire, challenge …

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 …