Tag Archives: Ennis

The Clare Covid-19 Vaccination Centre is permanently relocating from the former outpatients’ department at Ennis Hospital to Treacy’s West County Hotel from this Wednesday, which will immediately triple the capacity for walk-in clinics. As Christmas approaches, 13 walk-in clinics are being held across the three Mid-West Covid-19 Centres from Monday, December 20 up to Thursday, December 23rd, delivering vaccine booster doses for people aged 40 and older, and primary Dose 1 and 2 vaccines for anyone yet to receive a vaccine.   These extended half-day and full-day walk-in clinics are being held to meet public demand for booster vaccines, and as part of the national effort to maximise the population’s immunity in view of the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 Omircon variant, and continued prevalence of the virus’s Delta variant.     Clare walk-in clinics for the 40 years age group and older will begin at the West County at 3.30pm on December 22nd. The walk-in clinics scheduled for the former …

A FORMER St Flannan’s College student has been awarded a prestigious €20,000 scholarship to support his continuing studies. Jack Browne, who is now studying Electronic and Computer Engineering at the University of Limerick, has been named as a winner of the Naughton Foundation Scholarship Awards. Reacting to the award, Jack told The Champion, “I am delighted to receive this amazing opportunity from the Naughton family. I am also so grateful for the support, interest and encouragement of my family and my teachers, in both Inch National school and St Flannan’s College, especially the outstanding science department in St Flannan’s.” This isn’t the only time that Jack’s out of this world talents have been acknowledged. He was a member of the St Flannan’s College Design team which won a major international prize in the NASA Ames Space settlement Design Competition in 2019. St Flannan’s teacher John Conneely said, “The staff and students at St Flannan’s College have sent their congratulations this …

ENNIS students Aodha Marrinan and Sarah O’Rourke were among sixteen University of Limerick students to recently receive scholarships at a virtual awards ceremony as part of the Johnson & Johnson Ireland Women in STEM2D (WiSTEM2D) Award Programme. Both Aodha and Sarah study Biomedical Engineering at UL. Now in its sixth year at UL, the WiSTEM2D programme is run in collaboration with Lero – the Science Foundation Research Centre for Software, and will provide the scholarship recipients with extensive industry mentoring and leadership training. WiSTEM2D refers to Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Manufacturing and Design. The WiSTEM2D programme underlines J&J’s commitment to developing and implementing high-impact strategies to support female students undertaking STEM2D degree courses at UL and in universities around the world.  Currently, there are approximately 117,800 people across Ireland who are working in jobs that require STEM skills. However, the CSO reports that just 25% of these roles are performed by women, with just 5% in leadership roles.Whilst there has been a general …

A PRIZE-WINNING artwork by 13-year-old Clare student Emily Barrow, from Colaìste Muire, Ennis, has been chosen to illustrate the 2022 Texaco Children’s Art Competition Calendar just published. One of 13 selected to illustrate the publication, her piece, entitled ‘The Forge’s Flowers’, right, will appear on the August page and will be seen in thousands of homes in Ireland during the coming year. Winning a Special Merit Award in the 2021 competition, it was one of a number said by a competition adjudicator to illustrate perfectly the outstanding talent, creativity and imagination that many of our young artists possess and the important role schools have in encouraging and inspiring their students through art education. Calendars are currently available through a select number of service stations and Texaco branded distributors countrywide and through Texoil home heating oil division.

FORCING pubs and restaurants to close at 5pm would amount to a lockdown, said publican and President of Ennis Chamber Darragh McAllister this afternoon. “It’s essentially a lockdown without calling it a lockdown. Even pubs that do serve food, no one is open for long before 5pm. I think there’s a game being played here and unfortunately we’re the ball. There’s no way NPHET can imagine the Government would accept that, I think they’re deliberately lowballing, they’d like to see something like 7pm or 8pm,” he said. Businesses like his own would be essentially shut by a 5pm closing time, he stressed. “It’s a closure. It seems to me a cynical move, because without calling it a closure they’d get away without paying the PUP to the tens of thousands who’d have to be let go, because there’d be no work for them at all before 5pm.”

FEARS that the County Development Plan could be “hindered” by an absence of updated flood maps, and with that future development in Ennis, were expressed at a meeting of Ennis councillors. The issue was highlighted by Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy who urged that the Office of Public Works issue up to date maps to represent the Ennis South Flood Relief Works. She said this is necessary to ensure the council is not impeded in zoning lands for the development of the county capital. “We want to ensure we have adequate zoning of lands for all of our needs, most especially there is a huge demand for housing of all types, not just social housing. I am concerned that in our efforts in drawing up the plan we will be impeded from adequately zoning land because of a lack of maps.” Sean Lenihan, Senior Engineer, responded, “As the Ennis South Flood Relief Scheme is not yet officially completed, the updated Flood …

AN overpass should be constructed at the Clareabbey Roundabout to allow pedestrians and cyclists cross safely, Ennis’ deputy mayor has insisted, accusing Transport Infrastructure Ireland of “dragging its heels” on safety concerns. Councillor Paul Murphy has described the roundabout on the N85 as “a disaster from day one that needs to be addressed immediately”. Speaking at a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District the Clarecastle councillor said it “beggars belief that TII are still dragging their heels, still having reviews and studies, and there is nothing concrete going on.” The councillor, who has regularly highlighted the danger the roundabout poses to cyclists and walkers who wish to cross the road, said that it has “cut off the village of Clarecastle and Ennis from each other”. The councillor had sought a progress update on a preliminary design report which was required to be submitted to TII before final approval. He also urged that a pedestrian and cyclist overpass be designed with …

EFFORTS to improve a local beauty spot for the enjoyment of the entire county have been given a €50,000 financial boost, however a lot more funding is needed to complete the project. Funding of €50,000 has been approved for the Ballyallia Lake Amenity Enhancement Plan under the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme (ORIS). Mayor of Ennis Councillor Ann Norton, who worked with Barefield Tidy Towns in launching the Ballyallia Lake Amenity Enhancement Plan, while welcoming the funding announcement says she is hopeful that the project has now been “put on the map” when it comes to securing much needed additional money. “We are delighted that we are starting to see money coming in because there is quite a big project in Ballyallia and it will take a lot of money over a long period of time. “This is really the start of the opportunity to enhance Ballyallia. We have done the feasibility study, the recommendations are there, and we want to …