Tag Archives: Los Angeles

The Covid 19 pandemic had a massive impact on the lives of North Clare woman, Aoife Corry, and her American fiancé, Tom Jorgensen. On March 13, 2020, then American president Donald Trump signed an executive order which, among other things, made it impossible for the couple to return to America together for 14 long months. It was a time of great uncertainty for everyone, but also a time when creativity was almost forced to blossom. Later this week, the world premier of Homestead, a film made by Aoife and Tom, will take place at the Los Angeles Irish Film Festival. The short horror film, which was shot over two days in Corofin in 2021, is a reflection of the isolation felt by so many people during those long days of lockdown. “We were stuck. Trump signed an executive order which meant that we couldn’t go back to America at that time. We ended up in Ireland for 14 months,” Aoife …

THEY may have already taken a step but a group of Ennis students are now hoping that, with some help, they will be able to take a giant leap towards a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Six students from St Flannan’s College in Ennis have taken second place in an international competition, run by US space agency NASA, for their plans for a ‘space elevator’. The fifth-year students now have an opportunity to attend a conference in Los Angeles, featuring some of the biggest names in space exploration, including former astronauts and the founder of Amazon, Jeff Benzos, who is developing technologies to allow for space tourism. However, in order for them to reach for the stars, the students have yet another out-of-this-world task to accomplish, with €12,000 in funding needed in order to take the trip. They are hopeful that a sponsor might come on board and support them in making their dream trip a reality. Students George Harrington, Cyrus Gillan, Micheal …

THE tentacles of Irish music reach very far from its strongholds and people from around the world have made it to the narrow streets of Ennis for this week’s festivities. Many have strong roots in this county, such as Graham Killoughery, who grew up in London, the son of Mary and Tom Killoughery, who hail from Lissycasey and Ballyea respectively. Graham was in Lord of the Dance for six and a half years, while his sister, Shona, was also part of the show for several years. On Tuesday, he was really enjoying the sounds around the streets. “I’m a big fan of the music. Shona and myself danced when we were younger. Feis music would be a little bit different to trad but I’m actually a bigger fan of the trad music. It’s good to go around the pubs, meet up with some old friends from the dancing and listen to some more enjoyable tunes. Some of the dance music …

A delegation of 19 tourism enterprises, including the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis, undertook a three-city trade and media blitz to the west coast of the United States last week. Thirteen Irish tourism companies and six American tour operators met influential travel agents and tour operators in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle, as part of Tourism Ireland’s 2017 promotions. California is now the second largest and fast-growing market within the United States for tourism to the island of Ireland. The sales blitz coincided with the announcement by Aer Lingus that its Los Angeles-Dublin flight will become a daily service for summer 2017. This is in addition to the Aer Lingus San Francisco-Dublin flight and Ethiopian Airlines’ service from Los Angeles. The ‘Jump into Ireland’ events were also an ideal opportunity to remind the American travel professionals that it’s now easier than ever before to get to the island of Ireland from the west coast of the US. Alison Metcalfe, …

TWO Ennis men have been formally unveiled as Special Olympics athletes who will represent Ireland in golf at the World Summer Games is Los Angeles in July. They are 29-year-old, Paul Kirrane and 72-year-old Patrick Rutherford. Playing golf for four years, Paul is currently training with Ennis Golf Club. Patrick has been playing golf for 25 years and he also enjoys triathlons and athletics. Patrick’s a golf coach at his local club where Paul also trains. One of Ireland’s most successful golfers, Christy O’Connor Junior, and three-time Olympian and former 5,000m World Champion, Senator Eamonn Coghlan joined Patrick Rutherford at the launch of the Team Ireland Golfing Squad, where it was also announced that Gala, has joined Special Olympics as one of Team Ireland’s Official Sponsors. Hailing from across Ireland, the full line-up for the Team Ireland golfing squad is: Margaret Carr from Sligo; Rosemary O’Reilly from Meath; Trudy Hyland from Cork, Paul Kirrane from Ennis, Oliver Doherty from Buncrana, …

Ennis Special Olympics Golf Club members, Paul Kirrane with his partner, Pat Rutherford , who compete in the nine-hole Alternate Shot Event, have been selected for the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles in 2015, as part of the Irish team. Paul and Pat, who won gold in this event at the National Games in Limerick in June, were absolutely thrilled with their selection. On hearing he was on the team for Los Angeles, Paul said, “There are no words to describe how happy I am”. The Irish squad will have 89 athletes across 13 sports. They will be supported by coaching, medical and management staff, bringing the total group to 128. The World Games are the flagship of the Special Olympics movement and, in Los Angeles, there will be 7,000 athletes and 3,000 coaches representing 177 countries, along with 30,000 volunteers and an anticipated 500,000 spectators. The Special Olympics World Games, being staged from July 25 to August …

A DELEGATION of 15 Irish tourism companies, including Shannon Heritage and five American tour operator partners, last week joined with Tourism Ireland in targeting hundreds of travel agents and influential journalists in Fort Worth, Houston and Austin in Texas With a population of about 28 million, the state of Texas is becoming an increasingly important market for tourism to the island of Ireland. This is something which bodes well for Shannon Airport where  transatlantic services have been increased this year. Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring also travelled with the group for the second of its ‘Jump into Ireland’ 2014 sales blitzes in the US. Tourism Ireland also introduced the country’s newest tourism experience, the Wild Atlantic Way at the various events. Similar ‘Jump into Ireland’ events will take place in Chicago and Boston, in September, as well as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, in November.