Tag Archives: Ennis

THIS summer, national children’s arts and health charity Helium Arts will launch its first Creative Health Programme location in Clare at CBS Primary School in Ennis. The charity’s first outpost in Clare will provide arts programming for children living with long-term medical conditions. Helium Arts’ new Ennis location builds on the success of hubs in Cork, Limerick, and Galway which have served over 2,000 children living with long-term medical conditions since 2019, supporting their wellbeing, creativity, and ability to cope with their conditions. Helium Arts is dedicated to empowering these children and teenagers through creativity and the arts by creating connection and belonging for young people who can feel lonely and defined by their health condition. Led by local artist Ana Colomer, the workshops are a space for children to play, learn, and explore their creativity through hands-on activities. As a parent whose child recently took part in a recent Helium Arts programme put it, “My son’s creativity was opened …

Gardaí in Ennis are investigating a suspicious fire which caused extensive damage to a house in the town on Sunday afternoon. The incident occurred at around 3pm at the property at Gordon Drive in the Cloughleigh area of Ennis. Two units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service responded to a report of a domestic fire at the address. Several Garda units including members of the detective branch also responded to the multiple calls made to the emergency services. On arrival at the scene, fire crews found that that front door and sitting room window were both ‘well alight’. Fire crews set about tackling the blaze and quickly established there was no in the house at the time. It’s believed the house was targeted with petrol bombs which destroyed both the front door and window and caused fire damage inside. Parts of the house not directly affected by the blaze suffered smoke damage. An adjacent property was also affected by …

AN Ennis home carer has been honoured for her work in the Limerick community. Omotola Ifebajo was honoured at a special ceremony at Comfort Keepers’ office in Limerick as a finalist for the Comfort Keepers Carer of the Year 2021 award. Following the judges’ selection based on set criteria and including online voting, Omotola was chosen as one of twelve finalists in the running for the prestigious accolade of Comfort Keepers Carer of the Year 2021.  Originally from Nigeria, Omotola who lives in Ennis is a mother of four children and has been a carer for Comfort Keepers for over five years. She became a carer after taking care of her own mum, an experience that showed her how vulnerable the elderly can be and the difference home support can make to their lives.  According to the nominations from co-workers and clients, Omotola is amazing at her job. She is caring and very reliable. She has so much patience and kindness and is a lovely easy …

THE Ennis Primary Healthcare Centre on Station Road will be fully operational before September the Minister for Health has stated. In response to a Dáil question from Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said that HSE Estates has advised that the centre is scheduled to become operational during the third quarter of the year. “The opening of the Station Road centre will be a significant development in the delivery of community-based health services for the people of Ennis and the surrounding area,” Minister Donnelly explained. As well as providing a full range of GP, nursing, therapy and dental services, the centre will also offer specialist nurse led clinics for the treatment of leg ulcers, as well as access to community diagnostics. The minister outlined, “The staff based in Station Road will form part of the new Community Healthcare Network for the area which will help us to develop more integrated care based on the needs of …

ORGANISERS of the Fleadh Nua festival in Ennis were “devastated” over the closure of the Rowan Tree hostel, a meeting has been told. Calls were made at an Ennis Municipal District meeting for action to be taken to secure tenants for empty business premises in the town. The hostel on Harmony Row is just one of a number of high profile businesses which have closed in recent years in the county capital, with Councillor Pat Daly insisting, “Ennis can’t afford to lose business.” Speaking at a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District the councillor urged the local authority to co-ordinate with Ennis Chamber and the owners of properties with a view to securing new tenants. Alongside the Rowan Tree which closed in October, he recalled the other locations which have shut their doors, Food Haven, O’Brien’s deli and Twomey-Walsh. Councillor Daly recalled how in a recent conversation with organisers of Fleadh Nua they outlined the closure of the Rowan Tree …

THE Saint Flannan’s College Space Settlement Design team are over the moon having once again proven themselves to be out of this world in an international NASA competition. The team, made up of five students, have been awarded the highest honour in the NASA Ames Space Settlement Contest beating thousands of entries from around the world. Fifth year physics students, Adam Downes, Cian Pyne, Naem Haq, Jack O’Connor and Garabhan Monahan now have the opportunity to present their idea at the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Washington next month. After more than a decade of winning major awards in the most senior category of the prestigious international contest they have built on their previous successes and been awarded the the much-coveted Grand Prize. Their project was judged to be the overall winner from a field of 17,000 participating students who submitted over 3,000 entries. Entries came from 22 countries around the world. The competition brief is to design an …

GARDAÍ in Ennis are to be asked to examine the feasibility of rolling out a system which would allow people to text in reports of suspicious activity. The ‘See Something, Say Something’ system has already been a success in Tralee with a reported drop in reported public order offences a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District heard this week. The council agreed to request local gardaí “in the interest of public safety” to look at the possibility of introducing the system to the county capital. Proposing the idea, Councillor Johnny Flynn outlined that the text based system, developed by Tralee-based company ZinMobi, allows members to report suspicious activity anonymously to gardaí. The councillor stated, “We all love and are proud of Ennis, our county capital town centre which over the last few years and for the next five years will see  well over €15 million invested in its public spaces, main square, streets, lanes and bowways and other public spaces. …

AN Ennis man who was part of a convoy of Tesla drivers bringing Ukrainian refugees to Ireland has told how he still gets emotional thinking about the experience. John Casey, founder of the Tesla Owners Group in Ireland, also revealed the drivers are planning a return trip to help even more people to safety. John recently returned from Poznan in Poland where he was part of a humanitarian endeavour which saw more than 70 Ukrainians, including a three-month old baby, brought by car across Europe to Ireland. He explains that fellow Tesla driver and member of the group Tom McEnaney, founder of International Orphanage Development Programme Ltd, approached him last month with the idea of the club helping people in Ukraine. Having put the word out to the members on Thursday, March 24, a convoy of 15 cars and a van set out for Poznan. Fellow club member, and director at Unicef, Caroline Dowling flew out ahead of time to …