This article is from page 17 of the 2012-01-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
MUHAMMAD Ali was overwhelmed by the reaction to his ‘homecoming’ and now Ennis should seek to position itself as Ireland’s greatest town of Cead Míle Fáilte.
Thousands lined the streets for the former world champion’s visit in 2009.
A year later, Lonnie Ali said she had never experienced anything like the large crowds that turned out to welcome her husband to Ennis.
Speaking at the time, she said, “All the people in Ennis that came out and welcomed us, all the people that came out and supported us. There were so many people there and Muhammad was so excited, he’s still excited when he thinks back to that day.”
Now there are calls for Ennis to cap- italise on its reputation as a welcoming town. Councillor Johnny Flynn (FG) told last week’s meeting of Ennis Town Council that Ali’s family had remarked that the welcome he received in Ennis “meant more to him than his Olympic medals”.
He said this image should be used to promote Ennis abroad.
Cllr Flynn was speaking as members backed a proposed to make Ali the first recipient of a County Clare passport.
The proposal was made by Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab) to conincide with Ali’s 70th birthday this Tuesday In a motion submitted to the meeting, Cllr O’Shea called on the council to offer a Clare passport to visitors.
He said holders would be entitled to discounts at major tourism attractions, shops and restaurants.
In his response, Town Clerk Leonard Cleary, stated that the council works closely with the tourism industry on initiatives to promote Ennis.
He added, “The development of an incentivised pricing discount structure for visitor attractions would need to be led by the tourism industry and supported based on available resources by the local authority.”
Mr Cleary said the proposal could be further discussed at the next meeting of the Ennis Municipal Policy Committee (MPC)