Ennis

  ENNIS has been successful in its bid to become the first town in Ireland to achieve the coveted Purple Flag. Ennis, alongside Dublin’s Creative Quarter and Dame District, received the prestigious international accolade this week. Ennis’ flag is now flying high on O’Connell Square after being raised at a ceremony on Monday evening. It is now hoped that achieving the Purple Flag, recognising safe and well-managed night-time economies, will lead to a boost in tourism to the town. At the flag raising, Mayor of Ennis Peter Considine, congratulated all involved in bringing the Purple Flag to the town. “This just goes to show you what collaborating with various agencies can do. This award complements Ennis’ growing reputation as an attractive location to visit, work and live in and is the result of a unique collaborative approach to promoting the town by the local business community, Ennis Town Council, Shannon Development and Án Garda Siochána. “The Purple Flag will help …

ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour in private housing estates needs to be punished by taking away rent supplements, according to a local councillor.

Previously among the most packed-up parking areas in the town, the Cloughleigh Road is now almost unrecognisable since the introduction of pay-and-display parking.

  STUDENTS of Rice College made a ‘wheel’ effort to raise money for charity last Friday. The fifth year Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme students managed to cycle 100km in two hours and 55 minutes, raising money for both their school and Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland. It was planned that the fundraiser would involve 18 students divided into two teams for a relay race on exercise bikes to 100km. However, three of the students were unable to take part on the day, so instead they did two kilometre time trials to reach the 100km. According to teacher Aileen O’Driscoll, “They did fantastically well, we had to alter our original plan a bit but it all went really well. They all worked really hard, in fact one of them managed to do the two kilometres in just two minutes and eight seconds.” The fundraising effort has raised nearly €500, Ms O’Driscoll said. “We have over €400 collected and we’re heading for the …

CALLS for An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Environment Phil Hogan to launch the Ennis 2020 Hub Town Framework have been rejected by Ennis councillors. Instead they will be invited to attend the event which is set to take place later this month.

THERE was widespread disappointment at the weekend at the news that Ennis would not be the host venue for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2014. The announcement was made on Saturday by the Ardchomhairle of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, with Ennis losing out on an estimated €35 million boost to the local economy.Sligo were named as the host town for the All-Ireland Fleadh in the ballot at Comhaltas headquarters in Dublin. Ennis has once again missed out on its bid to secure the event, which would have attracted an expected 300,000 visitors to the town.  The working group behind the Ennis bid said the outcome has come as a “huge disappointment”. The working group was established under the auspices of the Ennis-based Abbey Branch of Comhaltas over two and a half years ago to make the case to host the prestigious event.The group, chaired by Micheál Ó Riabhaigh, comprised representatives of Comhaltas, State agencies, local authorities, An Garda Síochána as well …

A celebration of more than three decades of service to Knockanean National School by former school principal Pat McNamara will take place this weekend.Mr McNamara officially retired as principal of the school in November of last year and this Friday a retirement mass and celebration will be held in his honour in Roslevan.According to Mr McNamara, his 33 years at Knockanean have given him great memories that will always stay with him. “I will miss it, there’d be something wrong if I didn’t after so many years there. But the most important thing is that I can honestly say there wasn’t a day that I didn’t enjoy going in,” he said.Originally from Tulla, Mr McNamara came to Knockanean having previously taught in Waterford and Limerick. He recalled, “When I started out, it was a two-teacher school, just going to a three-teacher school, now it’s a 14-teacher school. It has certainly changed a lot in the preceding years. “There were 70 …