IT is a week that has evolved into a fortnight. Ennis Fashion Week, launched a few years ago to showcase the county town as the Boutique Capital of Ireland, has proved to be quite a success and the promoters believe it will continue to prosper in its revised format of Ennis Fashion Fortnight.

The 2010 Ennis Fashion Fortnight kicks off this Saturday and it’s not an idle boast when the organisers say the event is an innovative festival that offers customers and visitors an enhanced shopping experience in one of Ireland’s most unique and vibrant towns.  It’s an opportunity for Ennis to dazzle visitors with its wide range of fashion stores and beauty boutiques while also finding time to discover the many other attractions the town has to offer.
The reward for Ennis is a much-needed autumn windfall of several million euro. This sort of injection in the local economy is especially welcome at a time when the retail and hospitality sector are suffering badly under the weight of the recession. Every cent kept in Ennis and County Clare is important if we are to stave off business closures and job losses.
Ennis Fashion Fortnight committee has drawn together a diverse range of business interests in the town and periphery to create a total shopping experience for visitors and local customers alike. In fact, the organisers reiterate the point that Clare shoppers have a great asset right on their own doorstep in the myriad of independent and quite distinct boutiques to cater for all ages. While ladies are certainly the most ardent shoppers, there’s also plenty in town to cater for male customers.
However, shopping in Ennis doesn’t end when you hear the ringing of the till after you hand over your cash or key in the pin number of your flexible friend. It doesn’t end as you but your toe back onto the street, happy with your purchase. Ennis Fashion Fortnight team wants to get the message out that shopping in Ennis can be a lot more than buying clothes. It’s about the cup of coffee before or after the trawl through the rails and shelves, having lunch or dinner in the evening, enjoying the atmosphere in the bars or even indulging in a bit more pampering by saying over in a hotel or B&B. 
As part of  the fortnight, not only can shoppers avail of superb events and in-store promotions, they can attend fashion shows catering for all ages and sizes, health seminars, lectures and exhibitions, as well as entering a fashion awards night. In order to provide the complete package – cafés, bars and restaurants are offering special menus and events during the two weeks and hotels are providing short stay offers.
For those who want to spread the news about Ennis being the Boutique Capital of Ireland, there’s no better way than to buy up some local currency and give it to family or friends. Ennis Gold gift vouchers, which can be spent in over 80 Ennis businesses, can be purchased from Ennis Chamber or other outlets. Local people could lead the way on this front.

HSE training fund debacle

IT is small fry when compared to the billions of euro in spending that cannot be accounted for by high-flying bankers and builders in recent years but serious questions have to be asked about a culture of squandermania in respect of a €60 million Health Service Executive training budget.
One of the principal questions to be answered is how €2.5 million from the Skill programme ended up in a bank account, allegedly linked to trade union officials.
While Siptu  insists that none of the money allocated to the Siptu National Health and Local Authority Levy Fund account ever found its way into union coffers, the union will have to reassess its own operational procedures.
The internal investigation by the HSE has flushed out a lot of other issues pertaining to the training fund scheme that must be addressed, with remedial action taken where necessarry. Claims of lavish spending and a special fund being used to pay for parties, taxis and travel, have emeged from the investigations. The auditors, it is believed, found inadequate documentation was submitted to back up claims worth €348,000, which included a retirement party, over €12,500 on taxis and charges for mobile phones, laptops, home broadband, gifts and gratuities.
With an already tarnished reputation regarding shortcomings in the quality and delivery of services, not to mention the baggage of various misdiagnosis scandals, a controversy of this nature is the last thing the HSE needs.
The audit found a significant number of breaches of public sector requirements and HSE policies and procedures in relation to procurement; utilisation of health service contracts; reimbursement of personal mobile phone costs; hotel expenses; taxi usage; public sector recruitment obligations; maintenance of personnel records; superannuation commitments and data protection obligations.
The report found that no financial records for travel or hotel costs were kept in relation to foreign travel to the US, Australia, Hong Kong and the UK. It says one trade union employee arranged and paid for overseas travel for public officials and others and subsequently either claimed back unvouched and unspecified costs from the Skill programme or funded it through a grant the union received from the Department of Health.
Facing up to a storm of criticism in the Dáil on Wednesday, Taoiseach Brian Cowen denied a blind eye is being turned to waste in the health service and said any such waste could not be condoned.
Minister for Health Mary Harney said any waste of money by the HSE is “not acceptable” and would be addressed. She said the issue is now the subject of a garda inquiry and therefore did not want to comment further.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, however, claimed a “culture of waste” had infected Fás, the banks and Government departments and had now permeated the HSE. Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore agreed with this assessment.
Labour Party health spokesperson, Jan O’Sullivan said if the HSE and the Minister for Health have serious questions to answer in this matter, then so does Siptu. She welcomed the fact that Siptu is investigating their involvement with the Skill programme, but said they should publish the findings of that investigation as a matter of extreme urgency.
At a time of scarce resources, there is no place for irresponsible use of taxpayers’ money.