Tag Archives: Ennis

ON Saturday morning, Jimmy Guinnane will leave his home at Toonagh around 5.30am and travel to Annacotty to pick up hundreds of loaves of Brennan’s bread, before spending the next 13 hours or so distributing them around Ennis and West Clare. He has spent thousands of days doing the same routine but Saturday will be the last time, as he finishes a job he has really enjoyed since beginning it 32 years ago. “I was working for Michael O’Sullivan before that in Corofin. I used to do a run up in North Clare and I did a run in Galway for him for six months with Kiely’s Bread. Then I started in West Clare in 1987 with Brennan’s bread.” He says he is very grateful to all the customers and the friends he has made on the route over the years. “I love meeting the people, meeting so many people every day. You’d have the craic with everybody. When I …

MEMBERS of the West Coast Motorcycle Club handed over the proceeds of their annual motorbike toy run in aid of St Clare’s Special needs school Ennis on Friday December 21. The toy run was held on Sunday December 9 last and raised €2,460 for the school, a €1,000 increase on what was raised in previous years. The bikers met up at Donellans Center on the Lahinch Road, where they all made a donation before heading down to Limerick via Newmarket on Fergus and Shannon. On their toy run they stopped in Limerick city centre where they held a bucket collection for an hour before returning to Ennis. While the bikers were in Limerick, some of the staff and school principal along with some parents of the children attending St Clare’s did their bucket collection around Ennis town. When the bikers arrived back to the Height in Ennis, they joined up with the other who had been collecting around the town and there was great fun had by …

A BUSINESS that combines a pub and shop is nearly a thing of the past but a few of them still survive, including Kenny’s in Ennis. Located at the corner of Carmody Street and Drumbiggle Road, it is a type of premises that is now almost unique in Ennis, where one can get a newspaper and a couple of groceries at the front and a pint of Guinness or a whiskey in the back. When The Clare Champion visited on Thursday night of last week, Tony Coote was one of those seated comfortably at the bar. “I’m a regular here; it’s a very unique pub. There aren’t many places you’d come in and see tennis balls for sale,” he laughs, pointing at a bag of them hanging up in the shop. If you were looking for an authentic Irish bar, it would be hard to beat Kenny’s and some visitors to the town do make their way there, Tony said. …

SOUTH Clare Youthreach in Shannon will close its doors for the last time in the coming days. The Shannon facility had the capacity to accommodate 13 learners at any one time. The service users are people who have left mainstream schools prematurely, for various reasons, and engaged with Youthreach to continue education. Young people aged from 15 to 18 were catered for in Shannon and they will now have to go to Ennis instead. The Shannon closure is an unpopular decision locally, and Councillor Mike McKee said the timing is unfortunate. “I’m very disappointed with the decision. While it had been expected I didn’t expect it’d happen during the middle of the term. It’s very unfortunate for the students that participated in the Youthreach course and I think it’ll have a detrimental effect on them, having to move to Ennis.” He added, “These are teenagers who left second level education for one reason or another. It could have been bullying …

CLARE’S county dog warden cannot go into parts of Ennis without garda protection, he has revealed. Frankie Coote, whose house was targeted by an unknown hatchet-wielding assailant just last week, says there are areas of the county capital where it is unsafe for him to do his job. “There are areas in Ennis, I won’t name them, that I can’t go in without the gardaí. I said to one woman who made a complaint [about the treatment of animals] that I can’t go down because they will wreck my house. She just said ‘I don’t give two fs about your house, I’m just worried about the animals’.” He continued, “Three or four times me and the girl working with me here have had to get a garda to go with us. It’s a pity; we are just trying to do our job. It might just be something small like checking a licence or trying to find a stolen dog. It’s …

THE Ennis home of Clare County Dog Warden Frankie Coote came under attack on Wednesday night. Windows of his house were smashed by men wielding hatchets, while his van and his wife’s car were also attacked. Speaking on Thursday Mr Coote said, “It was exactly nine o’clock, I was just going watching the news, and the window of the house came in. I thought it was shotguns, I heard bang, bang, bang, but it was two people attacking the van and the wife’s car with hatchets. There was awful damage done.” He said that confrontation has been a frequent reality of his job, but it is very upsetting having it come to his home. “It was worse for my wife than myself. I’ve been assaulted, different things have happened me to do with my job, but nothing at the house.” Mr Coote said that thousands of euros worth of damage had been done. He said he spoke to one of …

SANTA Claus is coming to town and will join Mayor of Ennis Municipal District, Clare Colleran Molloy, for the switching on of the Christmas lights and the launch of ‘Christmas in Ennis’ in O’Connell Square from 4pm to 5.30pm on Friday. Santa will arrive by fire engine for the event, which will also feature a 40 foot Christmas tree, children’s entertainment, carol singing, hot chocolate and face painting. A post-box, crafted by the Ennis Men’s Shed, will be situated in the square giving children the opportunity to post their Santa letters. In conjunction with the switch-on of the Christmas Lights, Ennis Lions Club will launch their Remembrance Tree Project in aid of Cahercalla Hospice at 5pm. Minor traffic diversions will be in place in the square from 3pm on Friday. The Christmas in Ennis programme, which is hosted Clare County Council and supported by the Ennis Chamber, will feature the “Christmas Express” train operating through the town from Wednesday December …

PEOPLE living adjacent to the site of a proposed one million square foot data centre campus on the outskirts of Ennis have been almost completely left in the dark about the implications for them. On Wednesday, several of the people living close to the site said that while prospective developer Tom McNamara has spoken to them, they still have little information and harbour significant concerns. One woman said she is “totally in shock”, while resident Edward Casey said it has caused a degree of upset in the area. “A neighbour of ours didn’t sleep for two or three nights after hearing about it. The first time I heard it, I didn’t know what to think. I have a business, going well, but it could be turned upside down,” he said. However, Mr McNamara, said that consultation has taken place. “Significant consultation has already taken place with adjoining residents and there is more to follow,” Mr McNamara told The Clare Champion on …