O’Connell Street the star of RTÉ show

O’Connell Street will play a starring role on television this Friday as the county town’s main thoroughfare becomes the focus of the RTÉ programme On The Street Where You Live.
The show, which will be broadcast on Friday evening at 7.30pm on RTÉ One, meets some of the town’s long-standing residents, who share their stories of life in Ennis.
Appearing on Friday’s show will be John O’Connor from Custy’s Music Store, Pat Brennan, who grew up next door to Ennis Cathedral, and Gwen Culligan who runs the County Boutique.
The programme will look at this lively market town and it’s main shopping thoroughfare whose narrow, curved street push people close together. With nearby Shannon Airport, over the years O’Connell Street has played host to pilots, air hostesses and American tourists since the 1950s. More recently, O’Connell Street came to a stand-still as it welcomed home one of its greatest sons, Muhammad Ali.
This is the second series of the show, which takes a walk through Irish cities and towns to discover avenues where local history, ordinary lives and their stories meet. The stories are told from a personal point of view by those who have witnessed changes firsthand.
John said while he isn’t originally from O’Connell Street, he was delighted to take part in the programme and showcase what Ennis has to offer. He is hopeful that the programme will lead to a much-needed boost to the local economy.
The programme visits Custy’s Music Store, which attracts traditional Irish music fans from as far away as California and Japan.
“I’m from the town but I’m not from the street but it was great to be able to be involved and to point out some of the people who are a part of O’Connell Street to the film crew. I haven’t seen the programme yet and I’m looking forward to seeing how it came out. I talked about what Ennis has going for it and what makes Ennis special. This is a medieval town with enclosed areas and over the years this has developed a great sense of identity, of closeness and cosiness.
“This town has a certain spirit that has been there since medieval times, the confines of the town has led to a lovely feel, and it exudes that to those who visit the town. But this sense of confinement has not continued in people’s attitudes here, the people of Ennis are very open. Ennis has an awful lot going for it but there is competition out there from towns like Dingle and Galway. Ennis is like a hidden jewel but we need to do our best to advertise what we have to offer. Things like this programme and hopefully if we get the Fleadh in 2012, that will really help to encourage more people to come here. Anything we can do that will encourage more tourism is a good thing,” John said.
The programme also hears from Pat Brennan, who recalls his childhood growing up next door to the cathedral on O’Connell Street. He was one of 10 children and as a boy in the 1950s Pat had the freedom to run, play and shout out loud on the streets of Ennis.
Meanwhile Gwen Culligan tells how she grew up working at her mother’s ladies’ boutique. Although Gwen swore she would leave Ennis, after a spell away she got homesick and now runs the County Boutique on O’Connell Street.