Tag Archives: Ennis

AN Ennis student has been named as the overall winner of a prestigious all-Ireland competition. DCU student Eoin Murphy is the 2021 winner of the €2,000 Mary Mulvihill Award, the science media competition for third-level students that commemorates the legacy of science journalist and author Mary Mulvihill (1959–2015). Eoin, a student on DCU’s MSc in Science and Health Communication programme, won the top prize for his audio documentary Black Market Oxygen – The Peru Project, which examined the contrasting experiences of Ireland and Peru during the Covid-19 pandemic. The piece was inspired by a photograph in The Guardian showing a stand-off between hundreds of impoverished and desperate families attempting to leave Peru’s capital, Lima, on foot to return to their home villages, and riot police, who blocked their path in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The documentary, which Eoin wrote and narrated, is a stark reminder that old age and underlying conditions are not the only …

OCTOBER 1 has been announced as the first day of the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest. From that date Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) and Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) will cease to exist, and more than 15,000 students and 1,200 staff across the Midlands and Midwest will be teaching, learning and researching at the newly designated TUS: Midlands Midwest. On this day also, Ennis will become a university towns for the first time, given the presence of a campus here, while Athlone, Clonmel and Thurles will also become university towns. The recruitment of a president for Ireland’s first cross-regional university has also begun, with the application process now opened to suitably qualified persons.The inaugural president will be charged with leading transformational change across adjacent regions linked by the River Shannon. Chair of LIT Governing Body Tony Brazil said, “October 1, 2021 will not only be a significant day in the history of Irish education, but the beginning …

ENNIS is to become home to the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest it has been confirmed, with the name of the country’s newest TU unveiled this week. This comes following the announcement last month that Athlone Institute of Technology and Limerick Institute of Technology Ireland had been designated as a TU, with LIT’s Ennis campus on Bindon Street falling under the remit of the new institution. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD confirmed the new name this week. TÚS, in Irish, denotes a beginning or start for the new university while Midlands Midwest represents the principal regions, whose geography and provenance are linked by the River Shannon. Inspired by Ireland’s longest river, TUS: Midlands Midwest represents the flow of knowledge and ideas. The name of Ireland’s newest TU emerged from extensive independent research carried out with almost 3,500 students, staff, and regional stakeholders over several months. Welcoming the announcement, the …

THE structural repair and refurbishment works to the O’Connell Monument which were put on hold due to Covid-19 will now commence on June 9,with scaffolding to be erected in the first week. This project is being part funded under the Historic Structure Fund 2020 from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and will take up to 12 weeks to complete (without interruption). The contractors appointed to undertake the specialist repair work are INSP Stone Ltd. T/A Irish Natural Stone, Bouleevin, Boston, Tubber. The loading bay immediately adjacent to the O’Connell Monument will be temporarily blocked off while scaffolding is being erected and decommissioned. A pedestrian management plan will also be put in place.

AN Ennis school was honoured at the Young Social Innovators of the Year Ireland (YSI) Awards for its positive impact in helping to create a more equal, fair and sustainable world. Picking up the‘Fun-raising’ award, the team from Gaelcholáiste an Chláir, was recognised for its Poverty is 24/7’ project. This award recognises teams that have brought awareness and raising funds in for a cause in an innovative way. The Gaelcholáiste an Chláir students organised a fundraising event last December in which they took over the running of a local St Vincent de Paul Charity shop for 24 hours to help communicate a message that poverty is 24/7 while also raising funds for SVP. The 16 members of the 4GC class at Gaelcholáiste an Chláir completely managed the Vincent’s shop on Parnell Street for 24 hours offering a Christmas shopping experience with a difference. The students, with the support of teacher Martina McNamara, raised more than €5,500 in funds for the …

PUPILS from an Ennis school have demonstrated their futures are bright when it comes to identifying and solving health issues in Ireland today. Transition year students of Coláiste Muire Isolde Hegarty, Molly Hennessy, Hannah Clune, Sinéad Ní Dhúlaing and Éabha Warner have received an award at the second BD STEM Stars competition. The local students scooped €5,000 in funding for STEM projects after coming in second runner up place. Their entry proposed an app to support teenagers in managing their mental health. The Vedriti App and Panic Button Technology is a safe space online to support the mental health and well-being of teenagers. The students identified the challenges of the pandemic as putting even greater pressure on mental health and looked at how they could provide teenagers with peer-to-peer support as well as information on where to go for further help. They beat off competition from across Limerick and Clare in showing step-by-step how they firstly identified an issue and …

CAHERCALLA Hospice are urging the public to sponsor a virtual sunflower in memory of a loved one for this year’s Hospice Sunflower Days. Together for Hospice, the National Hospice Movement, has launched a ‘Virtual Sunflower Remembrance Garden’. This online space has been created for people to dedicate a virtual sunflower in memory of a loved one, whilst helping to raise much-needed funds for local hospice and home care services throughout the country this June. The ‘Virtual Sunflower Remembrance Garden’ campaign has been launched to raise funds for Hospice Sunflower Days, whilst also recognising the difficult year families and communities have faced. Together, 26 hospices nationwide, including Cahercalla, have joined to provide an online space where loved ones can be remembered and precious memories celebrated, reminding us that we are not alone. Mary Maloney, Fundraising Manager at the Clare hospice at Cahercalla, commented, “The last year has been incredibly challenging for many people in our communities and our intention is that …

STUDENTS in Ennis are making their voices heard about the effect Covid-19 has had on their lives as part of a poetry initiative. Coláiste Muire recently awarded prizes to staff and students who had taken part in a poetry competition around the theme of Covid-19 organised by the school’s guidance counsellor Fiona Christie. She explained the endeavour was organised as part of her role in supporting the well being of students at the school. The prize giving event was held virtually as celebrations took place across the country for Poetry Day Ireland. “This cross curricular guidance counselling/wellbeing/English initiative was run across the whole school and the response was just overwhelming from both students and staff,” she said. “The aim of this was to capture the student voice around Covid, the student voice is very important. “By inviting students to pen a poem, I hoped they would share their experiences with us so that their voices could be heard. And it …