Tag Archives: Ennis

COMEDIAN Kevin McAleer has been talking nonsense for 30 years and shows little sign of stopping. One of the founding fathers of modern stand-up, he has influenced a whole generation of comedians in Ireland and the UK. On November 8, he comes to Patrick’s Bar in the Market, Ennis after a very long absence from the Clare stand-up scene. “I haven’t been to Ennis for a long time, too long…some hotel back in the mists of the 20th century I think, but the best pint of Guinness I ever had in my life was in Ennis with a friend around 1993. We both cried. “It was a very emotional moment. We still reminisce fondly about it. Maybe I can reconstruct that moment when I am there,” he said. The Tyrone ‘space cadet’ shot to fame back in the 1990s with his regular appearances on RTE’s Nighthawks, leading to sold-out nationwide tours and the best-selling EMI video Turn it On. He …

BANNER Ladies’ full-back Laurie Ryan is one of the few ‘Townies’ in the Ennis club’s set-up. From Summerhill, Ryan had to mark St Val’s full-forward Caoimhe Creedon, one of the Cork champions’ most able footballers. “It’s a great feeling. It’s surreal at the moment and especially for Katie Cahill to score the winning point,” she marvelled, clearly stunned that Cahill had split the post in such dramatic circumstances. “We knew coming down that we had a great chance. We’ve been training hard all year. I’d say this is the biggest effort we’ve put in in a long time. After last year, we knew we were close enough and the young girls had another year’s experience. It was great to go out and show today that we could do it,” she added. As she spoke, one couldn’t but notice that Ryan had a significant swelling underneath her right eye. “In the first half I clashed with one of their girls. It …

A woman who came to Ennis on her honeymoon at the weekend is appealing to people in Clare for the return of her wallet, which was taken from her handbag here on Saturday. Irish American Lora Murphy and her Danish husband, Lars Moeslund, arrived in Ennis on Saturday to begin their honeymoon. However, after an hour, the couple’s plans had changed. “We had visited Ennis last year briefly and Lars just fell in love with the place. So after our recent marriage, we decided to spend our honeymoon there. We arrived on Saturday at about 1pm and within the hour, my wallet had been stolen and that was the end of the honeymoon,” Ms Murphy said. Ms Murphy was in a busy shop at the time of the incident and gardaí in Ennis are examining CCTV as part of their investigation. “I didn’t notice anything and then the woman who works there pointed out that there were glasses on the …

THERE was a substantial reduction in the number of people signing on in Clare during September. There were just shy of 9,000 people (8,983) on the live register in Clare during September, compared to 9,613 in August. The drop of 630 equates to a reduction of 6.5%. Most of the people on the live register in Clare are attached to the Social Welfare Office in Ennis and unsurprisingly that’s where most of the reduction was concentrated. While there were 5,535 signing on in Ennis in August, this was down to 5,094 in September, a drop of 441. This was the biggest drop at any of the four Social Welfare Offices in Clare, while the figures also improved at the other three. In Ennistymon it went from 1,369 in August to 1,318 last month. At Kilrush it dropped from 1,310 to 1,279 and in Tulla from 1,399 to 1,292. The number of under 25s signing on in Clare dropped by 154, …

BEYOND The Brooklyn Sky, a play about returned emigrants and the tensions amid a group of old friends, will be performed in Glór on October 18 and 19. The play was written by Kerry man Michael Hilliard Mulcahy and is set in his native town of Brandon. It is directed by Peter Sheridan. A group of friends are reuniting after 20 years but their shared past is a powder keg that can easily explode. They all grew up together in Brandon, before leaving for America in the late ’80s. As sometimes happens, the land of opportunity didn’t live up to their expectations and they returned home, chastened, but wiser. However, things happened between them in America, things of the heart and things of the purse and many of the issues were never resolved. The reunion is because one of their group, Jack Flynn, has flown solo across the Atlantic and the stage is set for a celebration. Peter outlined some …

INCREDIBLE though it might seem, when it emerged that Cypriots were having their bank accounts raided as part of the island’s bailout, it led to an increase in business for those selling clothes in small towns on the far side of Europe. Patrick Bourke found that people, particularly older people, were inclined to turn part of their savings into something tangible, lest Ireland’s dysfunctional banks be next in the firing line. “It helped us. People were afraid their money would be lost so they decided to spend their money instead of losing it. You’d notice it with older people rather than younger people, because younger people hadn’t the money sitting there.” He operates men’s clothes shops in both Kilrush and Ennis and is the third generation of his family in the business. “It started in 1928, we’re 85 years in business this year in our shop in Kilrush. My grandfather started it in 1928, my father took it over in …

TO commemorate Nigeria’s Independence Day next Tuesday, the Association of Nigerian Community in Clare (ANCC) has planned a series of activities in Ennis that include football, a party with dancing, singing, fashion and Nigerian food. It is 53 years since the first Independence Day. The activities start on Sunday with a football match against the Moroccan football team in Clare. The grand finale of the celebration will be a party organised by the Association of Nigerian Community in Clare. The association has invited mayors of Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council, Bishop of Killaloe Kieran O’Reilly and garda representatives to join the occasion. One of the prime objectives of the Association of Nigerian Community in Clare is to foster closer working relationships within all communities and also with the Nigerian embassy in Dublin. It exists as an advocate and to support the welfare needs of Nigerians as well as to progress integration and to be valued residents of Clare. …

The Restaurant Association of Ireland has kick-started a campaign to highlight how critical it is that the reduced VAT rate of 9% is kept in place for 2014 and beyond, in order for the Irish economy to remain competitive. The nine-day campaign began on September 9 and getting behind it is Ennis bar and restaurant The Cloister, run by husband and wife Dermot and Noreen Fetton. The couple are in their first year of business at this premises and are hugely concerned that the forthcoming budget could see a VAT hike, something that would make trading extremely difficult for them going forward. In embarking on the campaign to maintain the current VAT rate, The Cloister has lobbied Deputy Timmy Dooley for support. Mrs Fetton said the reason they got behind the campaign  is to stave off any further increase in overheads in their sector and to ensure jobs are retained and a quality service is maintained, while remaining competitive. “We …