{"id":363916,"date":"2026-03-25T07:06:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/363916\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T07:06:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T07:06:20","slug":"graffiti-doesnt-reflect-spirit-of-ruan-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/363916\/","title":{"rendered":"Graffiti doesn\u2019t reflect spirit of Ruan village"},"content":{"rendered":"

The recent vandalism of a former pub in Ruan with graffiti doesn\u2019t reflect the views of the local community, according to the local Tidy Towns\u2019s group and residents.<\/p>\n

Slogans like \u201cspecial needs not wanted\u201d were painted on to the side wall of a former licensed premises in Ruan.<\/p>\n

Noel O\u2019Loughlin has outlined a series of obstacles he continues to face after spending an estimated \u20ac1 million on purchasing Purcell\u2019s licensed premises with planning approval for eight houses, acquiring additional land and considerable sums of money on engineers, architects and associated planning costs.<\/p>\n

Last January, the Corofin native withdrew a planning application last month for a mixed-use development due to ongoing wastewater issues.<\/p>\n

It includes demolition of an existing public house, residence and shed at the rear. <\/p>\n

The planning application outlined plans for a two bedroomed apartment at first floor, five two storey three bed terrace houses, eight single storey bungalows for the elderly, one two storey assisted living apartment for people with disabilities and one single storey three bed assisted living house for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

It provided for a new stormwater drainage system including on-site percolation area, new wastewater treatment system and on-site percolation area.<\/p>\n

Residences in the development are intended to be provided to a disability, voluntary or co-operative housing body.<\/p>\n

The offensive graffiti has been criticised by residents who don\u2019t believe it was carried by a local.<\/p>\n

Frances O\u2019Halloran (78) has provided respite services under the auspices of HomeShare Clare since 1995, which involves looking after a young adult with special needs at weekends on average once every four to six weeks.<\/p>\n

The former Ennis Community College teacher said this person is now considered part of her family, having attended her daughters\u2019 wedding in Lanzarote where she made a speech.<\/p>\n

Ms O\u2019Halloran said she had a Down Syndrome daughter, who died at a young age, but was accepted and supported very well in the local community, which was greatly appreciated.<\/p>\n

Commenting on The Clare Champion coverage of the graffiti, Ms O\u2019Halloran said she was very upset by it because she felt the reputation of good people in Ruan was \u201cblackened\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt it didn\u2019t reflect what people in Ruan are like. Everyone made an effort to include my daughter in birthday parties and supported her,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

Ruan Tidy Towns Chairperson, Linda Hogan said the graffiti wasn\u2019t put on the building by a local and noted it had caused a lot of upset in the locality where people with special needs are welcomed and included.<\/p>\n

In addition to criticising the graffiti, Ms Hogan said the Tidy Towns group are delighted to have members who have special needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are really upset about it because it doesn\u2019t reflect Ruan people or their values. We value everybody. It wasn\u2019t a local that did this and we would not stand over it. We support the provision of housing in Ruan,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After gardai examined the graffiti and gave clearance to cover it, Fintan Mac Coitir from Ruan Tidy Towns painted over the offensive remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who were the least able to defend themselves were being attacked. We did what I would have expected anyone with the resources to cover it over as quickly as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gai Hardy, Ruan Community Childcare Manager, said Ruan is a place that welcomes and accommodates children with special needs for decades.<\/p>\n

Having first opened its doors about 32 years ago, this childcare facility looks after three or four children with special needs and other children on an annual basis.<\/p>\n

It was built on the grounds of Ruan National School and was part financed through local fundraising and donations from parents.<\/p>\n

Ms Hardy pointed out five children with special needs, two from Ennis, two from Corofin and one from Kilnaboy are pupils in Ruan National School having previously attended the nearby pre-school and still go there for after school care.<\/p>\n

She said the graffiti posted on the building doesn\u2019t reflect the views of Ruan people who are very accommodating and supportive of people with special needs. Former Clare County Councillor, Joe Arkins pointed out the Ruan XL shop employs a young man who has special needs on Saturdays. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The recent vandalism of a former pub in Ruan with graffiti doesn\u2019t reflect the views of the local…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[164214,307,304,305,306,164215,308,93,39134,61,60,136630,164216,63001],"class_list":{"0":"post-363916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-special-needs-not-wanted","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-artsdesign","13":"tag-breakingnews","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-graffiti","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-local-community","20":"tag-ruan","21":"tag-tidy-towns"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}