Musicians’ contribution to Ennis ‘should be recognised’

THE contribution of Ennis’ musicians to the town’s cultural life should be recognised, a meeting of Ennis Town Council heard this week.

Councillor Mary Howard called on the council to erect name plaques acknowledging musicians in the town. She told the meeting that she felt it was a “lovely idea” to recognise musicians such as Micho Ball, Sonny Murray and Flan McMahon. “A lot of these people have never been acknowledged, they gave a lot of their time voluntarily to fundraise. Paddy Cons Hall (now Madden’s) was ahead of its time. These are our unsung heroes and it wouldn’t cost a fortune.”
However, former showband performer himself, Councillor Tommy Brennan told the meeting he could not support the motion. “There were a lot of groups down through the years in the town and if we put up plaques for everyone, the town will be full of plaques. It’s a nice idea but it could open a hornet’s nest and someone could be left out.”
Councillor Frankie Neylon suggested that a wall of plaques be erected on the grounds of Ennis Town Council. Councillor Johnny Flynn stated, “A lot of people have contributed hugely to the county town,” and he suggested that the new Inner Relief Road beside Madden’s Furniture, formerly Paddy Cons, would be ideal for a plaque.
Town manager Ger Dollard told the councillors he had no issue with the idea but warned of the dangers of leaving a musician out.
Leonard Cleary, town clerk, responded to the motion stating that if Councillor Howard wants to submit suggested musicians, these can be considered by Ennis Town Council in consultation with the arts officer.
“The contribution of music to the cultural life of Ennis has arisen at a recent series of discussions on the arts and tourism product development and promotion involving groups such as Clare Tourism Forum, Promote Ennis, Shannon Development and Clare Heritage Circle.
“Central to the marketing of Ennis is the consideration of the essence of the Ennis tourism brand. While various aspects of the unique selling point of Ennis are being explored by the council with these stakeholders, the prominence of Ennis and Clare as the home of traditional Irish music is featuring as one of the anchors of the Ennis brand. This is in addition to other heritage and hospitality aspects of the brand. The work on the development of the brand is evolving currently.
“In parallel, Ennis Town Council has been working with the arts office on projects in this area. It is also relevant to note that a number of proposals under the Ennis 2020 Visioning (Ennis Hub Strategy) process have referenced music and culture. It would be important that integration is achieved between this proposal and other current initiatives on tourism, arts and culture,” he stated.
Mr Cleary told councillors the arts officer would be consulted to explore the possibility of a general plaque acknowledging all musicians.