Tag Archives: Ennis

CLARE County Council is to seek funding for affordable housing in the urban areas of the county, the October meeting of the local authority heard. Independent Gerry Flynn put forward a motion asking that the Council make an approach on the matter to housing minister Darragh O’Brien. In a written response to his motion, Director of Social Development Ann Haugh stated, “As advised by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, proposals located within the CSO settlement boundaries of the five cities (Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford) are eligible for Affordable Housing Fund funding. “However, proposals located outside the five cities must be located within local authority areas with a minimum average 5% Housing Need Demand Assessment (HNDA) Affordability Constraint for new housing demand over the period 2021 to 2026 calculated for the entire local authority area. “The HDNA assessment of the Clare local authority area has not demonstrated this required affordability constraint and therefore does not meet …

ENNIS author Sean O’Driscoll has been named on the shortlist for this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards. His book Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber has been nominated in the Odgers Berndtson Non-fiction Book of the Year category. His book tells the astonishing story of Rose Dugdale. She grew up in a Chelsea townhouse and on a Devon estate and was presented to the Queen at Buckingham Palace as a debutante in 1958. Rose trained at Oxford as an academic economist and had a love affair with a female professor. At thirty, she commenced giving her inheritance away to the poor and in 1972 she travelled to Ireland and joined the IRA. She went on to become a committed terrorist, participating in a major art heist and a bombing raid on a police and army barracks; who kept a pregnancy secret for nine months in prison and gave birth there; and who ended up at the heart of the IRA’s bomb-making operation …

AN Ennis duo’s new artistic endeavour has been bringing sparks of colour and creativity to electrical boxes in locations throughout the county capital. Artists Rachel Macmanus and Robert Downey are the pair behind this project, busily brightening up the boxes dotted throughout Ennis with different works of art. The artists have joined forces to create the Negative Space Collective, a new platform to develop contemporary art and further strengthen visual arts culture and opportunities in the west of Ireland. The electrical box project involves a series of urban art pieces which have been created with the support of Clare Arts Office, under the PRISM Urban Art scheme. And, they both hope this project will be just the start of a movement encouraging artists and communities to come together to create art for everyone. The striking works on the electrical boxes include, among others, depictions of teenagers at Club Bridge, a garda near Ennis Garda Station, a contemporary take on the …

HUNDREDS of people attended a recent jobs fair at the Ennis Digital Hub on the Quin Road in Ennis, while almost 30 employers and recruiters participated.  The event was planned by five local organisations who saw the desirability of such an event for both employers and job seekers; Clare Local Development Company, Grow Remote, EmployAbility Clare, Digiclare, and the Department of Social Protection. Paul Ellingstad is Ennis area Community Co-ordinator for Grow Remote, an organisation which seeks to make remote working more accessible, and he said the day had been a great success. “We were really pleasantly surprised. We had been hearing anecdotally, both from job seekers and employers, that they’d like something, so these five organisations got together and said let’s do it. “We had almost 400 people registered on Eventbrite and we figured on the day there were definitely over 300 people and 28 employers and recruiters, so it was a fantastic turnout all round.” He said there …

ENNIS is set to host the 28th Annual Ennis Tradfest this November with a line up of top international, national and local traditional music stars. Amongst the stars will be Anxo Lorenzo, a virtuoso award-winning Galician piper renowned for his energetic and inspiring performances.  Over 1,000 are expected to travel from the US, Canada, Spain and the UK for Ennis Tradfest 2022.  From its early years, Ennis Tradfest has established itself as one of the most vibrant and dynamic traditional music festivals in Ireland with fans and visitors returning year after year. Michael ‘Blackie’ O’Connell, widely recognised as one of the best pipers in the world, has been tirelessly building this festival over the years into an extravaganza of traditional music.  Tradfest 2022 is no exception, boasting a stellar line-up of musicians including the Galician Anxo Lorenzo Band, legends Sean Keane (formerly of The Chieftains) and Gay Mc Keon, John Carty and Mike McGoldrick, Damien and Conor Connolly and popular concert band Jiggy.   …

ENNIS Players’ Annual Supper Theatre is back with three offerings to whet your theatrical appetite this November. Rehearsals are well underway for this four-night production, offering the finest of theatre and the finest of food in the surrounds of the Old Ground Hotel, Ennis. This year’s production will showcase performances of Elysium Nevada by Barry McKinley; Trapped, by Barry Woods and Tony Layton’s Where there’s a Will. Elysium Nevada is set in a retirement village in the sweltering Nevada desert. Two residents reflect on life, youth and how they got there. They are joined by a mysteriously silent woman whose presence adds an entirely new dimensions to the discussion. Directed by Saoirse Byrne, and features Hugh Gallagher as Bob, Conor Lynch as Mike and Amy McEnnis as Constance. Trapped sees Faye respond to a distressed phonecall from her best friend. They discover information that is both profound and life changing. A ten minute play about the unexpected parts that people …

TWO Clare companies have been awarded Ireland’s Best Managed Companies accolades at the 14th annual awards programme, led by Deloitte in association with Bank of Ireland. Amongst the winning companies this year were Modular Automation in Shannon and TTM Healthcare Solutions in Ennis. The companies requalified as winners at the awards for 9 and 11 years in a row respectively. This year, Deloitte recognised 136 indigenous companies at the awards representing 25 of the 32 counties across Ireland. This is the first year where the awards programme returned as an in-person event following the pandemic and culminated with a gala awards ceremony at The Convention Centre Dublin. The network of companies has a combined turnover of €13.9 billion providing over 51,000 jobs across Ireland across a range of sectors – from retail and hospitality to manufacturing and construction. The companies received recognition following a detailed judging process that evaluates the entire management team and business strategy in some of Ireland’s top privately …

WELL-known Ennis chamber choir, Cantare, are practising hard these days under the very expert baton of choir director, Michael Hennessy with their sights set on competing in the upcoming City of Derry International Choir Festival. The festival is taking place from October 19 to 23 and features a range of singing activities and performances for everyone in a wide variety of venues around Derry and its environs. Cantare will perform against a host of national and international competitors on the afternoon of Saturday, October 22 in the Millennium Forum in the historic walled city. Choirs will travel to Derry from as far afield as Estonia, Sweden and the US, and from closer to home including Dublin and Galway. According to Michael, “It’s great to have the opportunity to compete, to have a Clare choir perform in such a renowned competition. All the members have worked exceptionally hard over the last number of months – I’m confident we can hold our …