Tag Archives: Jim Connolly

Kilbaha Gallery marks a decade in business on the Loop Head Peninsula this year. Established in 2014 by sisters in law Liz Greehy and Ailish Connolly, it lies across the road from where Liz grew up and where her brother, sculptor Seamus Connolly carries on the tradition of operating the family foundry. For the two women, setting up the art gallery was a natural and organic thing for them to do at the time. “I grew up in the industry because my brother Seamus is a sculptor and my father [Jim] before him was a sculptor and there’s a bronze foundry in the family. So when Ailish married Seamus some years later obviously it is something we talked about as a family on and off. And we were certainly very familiar with the industry; we were both kind of living it without being artists ourselves so setting up the gallery seemed like a very natural and organic thing to do …

By Dan Danaher A SURVIVOR of the controversial Tuam Mother and Baby Home has lauded a memorial crafted by a retired Kilbaha-based sculptor. Tuam Homes Survivors’ Network (THSN) chairman, Peter Mulryan (76) is still haunted by the fear and desperation of the unmarried mother who was forced to give up her baby to a nun as depicted in Jim Connolly’s newest sculpture. The composite piece is in its final stages of completion, pending the receipt of an extra €50,000 to cover the remaining costs. Having met Mr Connolly on a number of occasions at the site of the unmarked burial ground in Tuam, Peter and his wife, Kathleen, visited him recently to see his sculpture commemorating the Tuam Mother and Baby Home. Mr Connolly is working on this piece, free of any labour charge. The sculpture shows a nun on one side of a closed gate holding a baby with the broken-hearted mother on the other side. Mr Connolly has …

A West Clare charity has received an unexpected windfall of €12,116 following the transfer of funds owed to another charitable organisation by General Election poll topper, Violet Anne-Wynne. John Lynch of John Lynch and Company Solicitors, Newcastle West, has transferred a payment of rent arrears owed by Deputy Wynne following her eviction from a Rural Resettlement Ireland house to their solicitor, John Nolan. On receipt on these funds, RRI founder, Jim Connolly decided to donate this money to the West Clare Cancer Care Centre in Kilkee as the RRI no longer exists. Last February, Mr Connolly proposed that Deputy Wynne should make a donation of €12,000 to charity in view of the fact she will earn an annual salary of €96,189 and is now a Dáil legislator. Deputy Wynne and her partner John Montaine were asked to respond to a claim notice issued by RRI for the sum of €12,126 being the amount of four years’ rent arrears of rent …

POLL-topper Violet-Anne Wynne has pledged to donate her estimated rent arrears of €12,000 to a mental health charity following her eviction from social housing a few years ago. The Kilrush-based mother-of-five created a political sensation by becoming the first Sinn Féin candidate to win a Dáil seat in almost 100 years after securing 8,987 first preferences in the General Election. Rural Resettlement Ireland (RRI) took a case against Violet-Anne Wynne and her partner John Montaine to respond to a claim notice issued for the sum of €12,126 being the amount of four years’ rent arrears up to June 3rd, 2016, according to court documents. RRI were granted a decree for the repossession of one of their dwellings in Tullycrine, Kilrush by Ennis District Court on July 28, 2017 with a two month stay. A weekly rent of €63.64 was set under a letting agreement dated December 1, 2011 and the family remained in the Tullycrine house until December 2017. Ms …

GENERAL Election poll topper Violet-Anne Wynne has chosen to remain tight-lipped on a request to make a donation to a homeless charity of her estimated rent arrears of €12,000, following her eviction from social housing. The Kilrush-based mother-of-five created a political sensation on Monday by becoming the first Sinn Féin candidate to win a Dáil seat in Clare for the first time since 1917 after securing almost 9,000 first preferences. Last week, Deputy Wynne claimed the person who decided to publicise information about her court case with Rural Resettlement Ireland (RRI) was “politically motivated” to negatively impact on her campaign. Speaking after her sensational election, she said the Clare Champion’s lead story actually helped her to win a seat. “I think people felt they could relate to me, I got a lot of messages of support, a lot of people saying they’ve either been in that situation or they know someone who has been in that situation before. A lot …

KILBAHA based Rural Resettlement Ireland (RRI) founder, Jim Connolly has said some of Dublin’s ‘new homeless’ could move to West Clare and save some rural schools from closing. In fact, Mr Connolly revealed that three schools are about to benefit from families who have moved in recent times to the west of the county. “This summer three families have moved into villages in West Clare. In the three cases they are providing sufficient children to the local primary schools to save three teachers jobs,” he said. On a broader note, Mr Connolly says that his organisation, whose funding was cut in 2012, has been receiving numerous requests from newly homeless people in Dublin regarding a move to West Clare, Mayo, Roscommon and Leitrim. Approximately 150 homeless families, with more than 300 children, are currently living in temporary accommodation in Dublin hotels. “They are classed as the ‘new homeless’ in a sense. They are people who had the wherewithal to get …

Dan Danaher THE new non-party grouping, founded by a Loop Head community activist, has scored a  major coup in getting garda whistleblower, John Wilson, to run under its banner in the local elections. Retired garda John Wilson has joined the ranks of Independents Together (IT), which aims to provide a voice for people who feel abandoned and disillusioned by traditional party politics. IT, founded by Jim Connolly, has now secured 17 candidates spread over nine counties. Mr Wilson, from Cavan, a nephew of the late Tбnaiste John Wilson and a brother of current Fianna Fбil whip in the Seanad, Senator Diarmuid Wilson, was forced to retire after revealing details of penalty-point terminations. Frustrated by his inability to have his complaints dealt with as he wished within the garda complaints system, Mr Wilson last year took his information to a number of Dбil deputies, under the Garda Sнochбna Act 2005. He was supported by Mountnugent man, Sergeant Maurice McCabe, based in …