Funfair noise and traffic concerns raised by Clare Road residents

FOLLOWING a meeting between officials from Ennis Town Council, gardaí and McFadden’s Funfairs, the operator of the funfair on the Clare Road, Ennis has dealt with traffic matters raised by local residents and councillors.

McFadden’s Funfairs currently have a funfair, Pleasure Planet, opposite the West County Hotel. They have been bringing a funfair to Ennis almost every year for the past 15 years and previously located in the Showgrounds in Drumbiggle.
Town councillor Michael Guilfoyle said that he and other councillors had been contacted by residents from Abbey Court and Westfields over the weekend regarding the funfair.
“Their main issues are in relation to noise and traffic. People are parking their cars on the same side of the road as the funfair causing an obstruction and a hazard. They are also concerned about the level of noise from the funfair particularly at night. Many said that they have children who are currently studying for exams who are being disrupted by the noise from the fair,” he commented.
Arising from concerns raised by residents, Harry McFadden attended a meeting with Ennis Town Council officials and gardaí on Tuesday, where he undertook to endeavour to control traffic in the vicinity of the funfair.
Eddie Power, town clerk, said that gardaí advised that they would issue parking tickets where cars belonging to people attending the funfair are parked illegally, on double lines, on footpaths or causing an obstruction.
“The proprietor of the funfair indicated that he would have stewards on duty advising people regarding parking. He also undertook to get bollards to prevent people from parking on footpaths or on double yellow lines and to put up temporary signage advising that parking is not permitted,” he explained.
“He also gave a commitment to explore off-parking arrangements as an alternative to facilitate people attending. The priority is traffic flow and management and the safety of children and all pedestrians and road users,” he added.
Harry McFadden of McFadden Funfairs confirmed that even prior to the meeting with Ennis Town Council, he had traffic cones in place restricting parking and had hired parking stewards to monitor parking. He also came to an arrangement with the West County Hotel regarding patrons of the funfair using their parking facility.
He explained that prior to the funfair opening last weekend, while they were setting up the previous week, residents had approached him regarding concerns over noise and traffic.
“I provided them with my mobile number and told them that if they had any issue with the funfair at any point to phone me. They haven’t phoned me. In fact, they came to the funfair and I spoke to them again and they told me they had no issues,” he said.
He also made the point that the Showgrounds location in other years is also close to residential areas and there had never been a problem regarding noise or parking in that location. “The noise level is no different this year than in previous years,” he said.
He added that they had notified the council that they were coming to Ennis this year and they would be located on the Clare Road. “We moved from the Showgrounds as that was off the beaten track and we were hoping with the new location that we would attract more business. “
In terms of noise nuisance, he acknowledged that there is always noise from a funfair.
“There are three aspects of noise from a funfair – music which doesn’t have to be at a high level and can be turned off; generators operating machines, which are super-silenced these days, and the noise of people enjoying themselves which in general is happy noise,” Mr McFadden said.
The funfair will continue until this Sunday. On weekdays it is open from 6 to 10pm and at the weekend from 2 to 10pm.