development would be a bonus for every business’

by Stuart Holly editor@clareecho.ie

OUTSIDE Tierney’s Cycles on Abbey Street in Ennis, a noticeboard erected on the footpath reads, “Save our beautiful town from the madness & dictatorship of Clare County Council & Ennis 2040 DAC team.”

Mayo native Kevin Corrigan is the man at the wheel of Ennis 2040 in his position as Chief Operating Officer, and when asked if he feels uncomfortable walking past that sign – or if he thinks there is a figurative target on his head – Kevin chuckles.

“I definitely walk down the street. Thankfully we live in a democracy and everyone’s entitled to their opinion and I suppose we’re in the listening phase of what we’re doing but at the end of the day we’ve got to deliver for the future of Ennis,” he responds.

“Going back to when the [Ennis 2040] study started in 2018, there was a lot of consultation done during that time, these were international experts. It was voted on by Clare County councillors three times, so the plan was adopted. There was €10m loaned and it was put in the County Development Plan. It’s not like this has surprised anyone and it was dreamed up overnight.”

Ennis 2040 is the most topical issue among business owners in the county town, with a public meeting last month attended by close to 200 people concerned about projects in the pipeline. From that meeting, a voluntary group called Save Ennis Town was established bidding to have plans scrapped to remove public car-parking in Abbey Street and Parnell Street. Meanwhile, plans to construct a €1.1m interim carpark at Francis

Street – while a part 10 planning application was in place for the construction of 45 residential units on the site – were also scrapped following a public protest attended by more than 100 people who were upset about the demolition of six cottages. The matter was also raised in Dáil Eireann by Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara, comments which Mr Corrigan said were “unhelpful”.

However, Mr Corrigan remains steadfast in his approach and plans for the Francis Street residential units will continue in the form of a Part 8 application to Clare County Council. Meanwhile, Ennis 2040 DAC plan to lodge an application for the construction of a mixed-use retail development in Abbey Street Car Park before the end of 2023.

In an interview with The Clare Echo, Mr Corrigan said the development of 45 residential units is a step in the right direction to address the local housing crisis, adding that a design team has been appointed “to bring the development to fruition with a planning application before the end of the year for 45 inter-generational housing units on the site as part of a mixed-use development.

“That will be a major game changer for Ennis; if you look on Daft.ie at the moment there are around 70 properties for sale in Ennis and they range from hundreds of thousands of euro down to a site.

“It was great news for Ennis that it is now an affordable housing location and we want to develop that in conjunction with Clare County Council as an affordable housing project which would be very sustainable.

“We’re looking at €15m of a project and hopefully we’ll be breaking ground there in late 2024 and be turning keys in early 2026.”

Meanwhile, Save Ennis Town last week released a statement highlighting concerns about erosion of car parking in Ennis. They claimed there is a deficit of 1,500 spaces and if the Abbey Street development proceeds it would remove a further 200. Corrigan notes that car parks at the old Boys National and the Cloister will be developed in the near future, but he adds, “There’s a lot of work being done by Clare County Council in the background around parking and parking studies. Recently, on a number of occasions that number of 1,500 was refuted, backed by statistics by