Tag Archives: clare champion

MAJOR works to prevent serious flooding in Ennis are now almost complete, OPW Minister Patrick O’Donovan has confirmed. Minister O’Donovan has revealed two of the major elements of the Ennis South Flood Relief Scheme, at St Flannan’s College and Ballybeg, are “substantially complete with only minor snagging remaining”. The minister has also accepted an invitation to visit Clare where he is set to explore a proposal to develop a greenway between Ennis and Clarecastle. He said flood works at Clareabbey suffered a delay in recent weeks “due to unforeseen difficult ground conditions”. These difficulties, the minister added, meant the original embankments proposal at Clareabbey had to be redesigned. However, he said this redesign has now been completed and that the additional works are “progressing more rapidly than initially expected” and have “largely been brought back into line with the original programme”. The minister was speaking in response to a parliamentary question from Clare TD Joe Carey. The minister also told …

A PLAN to drive Ennis’ economic recovery post Covid-19 has been described as “visionary” by one of the country’s most accomplished businessmen. The plan, developed by Ennis based Repucon Consulting was already in advance research stage pre-Covid as a niche destination plan. Once Covid took grip in March the plan was refocused to develop a framework for recovery that will include all strands of commercial life in Ennis from accommodation, services, hospitality and retail. Thinking outside the box, the client team, led by Ennis Chamber recruited the support and leadership skills of entrepreneur Brian Crowley to drive the delivery of the Ennis recovery plan. Mr Crowley, COO, Broadlake and founder of international healthcare recruitment firm TTM Healthcare and health and social care service provider Resilience Healthcare, accepted the challenge to lead the implementation of the Recovery / Niche Destination Plan for Ennis. “I grew up in Ennis and started TTM Healthcare here, and while our operations have grown and extended …

A CLARE link to the Bahá’í religion has been uncovered ahead of this weekend’s unveiling of a commemorative plaque in Ennis this weekend. On Sunday Mayor of Ennis, Councillor Paul Murphy will reveal a specially commissioned plaque at the grounds of the Civic Room in Ennis. The plaque commemorates the bicentenary of Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, following on from last year’s celebration and tree-planting at the same location. Coinciding with this event, a significant County Clare connection to the dramatic early history of the Bahá’í religion in Persia (Iran) has come to light. Lady Mary Woulfe-Sheil was born in 1825 at Tiermaclane, near Councillor Murphy’s home village of Clarecastle. She was one of very few westerners in Persia during the early days of the Bahá’í faith and she left a vivid account of her experiences, in which she wrote about the new religion. “This is a most exciting link to uncover,” said Ennis Bahá’í, Maria McNamara, whose …

THE latest lessons at Scoil Chríost Rí in Ennis have been causing quite a splash among its students. Last week saw 90 primary school students take part in a pilot programme introducing them to kayaking. This is just the first step of a project which is hoped to result in establishment of an Outdoor Adventure Hub at the riverside school which will benefit the entire town. Kayak le Chéile was formed earlier this year by primary school teachers, Jó Mag Fhearadhaigh and Conor Healy, with a view to establishing a club in Ennis which would facilitate access to the River Fergus for water sports. The new club began its ambitious programme with a Level 1 training course for staff members with an interest in kayaking. Nevsail Watersports provided tuition and the course was attended by representatives from Gaelscoil Mhichíl Ciosóg, Clare Youth Services, Scoil Chríost Rí and the local community.  With the support of Clare Sports Partnership, a pilot programme …

ENNIS’ success in this year’s Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) survey along with other recent successes has highlighted the town’s appeal as a place to live, work and visit. That’s according to Mayor of Ennis Councillor Paul Murphy, one of a number who welcomed this week’s announcement that the county capital had achieved the highest cleanliness level in the most recent IBAL nationwide litter survey. Eight out of 10 sites surveyed in the town by An Taisce were awarded the top litter grade with the town found to be “cleaner than European norms”. The first nationwide litter survey by business group Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) since the Covid-19 crisis shows Ennis to be again ‘Cleaner than European Norms’ climbing to sixth spot in the ranking of 40 towns and cities nationwide. The county capital has bucked the trend with a nationwide dramatic fall in the number of towns and cities deemed to be ‘clean’ in the survey, its lowest …

GARDAÍ in Clare have launched an appeal for the public’s assistance after a man was found lying on a Kilkee street with head injuries. The discovery was made on O’Curry Street by gardaí on routine patrol over the August Bank Holiday weekend. After being taken to University Hospital Limerick scans showed that the man suffered a fracture to the head. Clare Crime Prevention Officer Sergeant Triona Brooks has urged anybody with any information to contact gardaí. She outlined, “In the early hours of Saturday, August 1 at 2.40am gardaí on mobile patrol came across a male lying on the footpath on O’Curry Street, Kilkee. This man had sustained lacerations to his head. He was taken to University Hospital Limerick and after a CT scan was carried out it was discovered that the male had suffered a bone fracture to his head. “We are appealing to anyone who may have been in the area of O’Curry Street, Kilkee between 2am and …

STUDENTS are being encouraged to take a leaf out of the book from one of the county’s most successful festivals. Preparations are already in motion for next year’s Ennis Book Club Festival which is set to take place from March 5 to 7, 2021. Festival director, Dani Gill and the committee are currently working on plans for the 15th festival. Book clubs have always been at the heart of the festival’s programming and this year the festival aims to develop new audiences by setting up the TY Book Club. Ennis Book Club Festival are inviting Transition Year classes from Clare schools to participate in a series of workshops on book clubs with Sarah Moore Fitzgerald. Sarah Moore Fitzgerald is a professor and award winning author based at the University of Limerick. She will host three workshops with TY classes from four schools in November, December and January online. The first workshop will give students tools and techniques to generate sharper …

A “huge opportunity” to boost visitor numbers to Ennis with the plans for a Greenway from the county capital to West Clare has been highlighted by local councillors, with calls being made on landowners to get behind the proposal. Ennis councillors Johnny Flynn, Ann Norton and Pat Daly alongside Councillor Alan O’Callaghan, at a meeting of Clare County Council, sought an update on the likely completion dates for sections of the previously commenced portion of the West Clare Greenway from Ennis to Lahinch. The councillors pointed out that there has been “significant increased Government funding announced for Greenways.” Councillor Flynn outlined that the plans had been proposed back in 2006 as he sought clarification on the progression of the Greenway from Ennis outwards. Councillor Norton stated, “After this length of time why hasn’t our Greenway come about? We hear so much about what others in other counties have to offer.” She continued, “it would be fantastic if we had another …