*Lions handover; outgoing DSG Kevin Harty from Cork to James O’Loughlin
ENNIS Lions Club member James O’Loughlin has been appointed as District Governor of Lions Club Ireland.
The most senior position in Ireland, James is the second Ennis member to hold the title in the club’s 50 year history, which was previously held by Terence Mangan.
Father to four children, Christopher, John, Michael, and Marie-Claire, James says his family were “extremely supportive and extremely proud” of his appointment. He praised his wife, Galway native Anne, in supporting his endeavours with Ennis Lions Club throughout his time with the club since 1989.
James, whose parents hailed from Kilnaboy and Corofin, moved to Clare from Dublin in the late ‘80s to run the Teagasc farm in Kilmaley, where he still resides today. James recounts, “One day the vet called PJ O’Driscoll from Summerhill Vets, was on the farm and I had seen in The Clare Champion that he was president of the Lions Club in Ennis. I said to him ‘PJ, what’s the story with this Lions Club?’ and he said ‘why don’t you come into a meeting?’ I came into a meeting in 1989 and joined and I’ve been there ever since”.
Through the Lions Club in Ennis, James has been involved in various projects including the Remembrance Tree which raises funds for Cahercalla Community Care, organising respite for carers in Clare, delivering fuel to families in need around Christmas time, and supporting Ennis Tidy Towns with litter picks on the Kilrush Road which is looked after by the local Lions.
Fundraising, acknowledges James, is a huge part of what the Lions in Ennis do but “you’re actively volunteering in the community as well. You’re actively packing bags of timber and delivering them to doors around the town, it’s not just shaking buckets”.
“You really you can’t underestimate the comradery, the friendships and the fun. The one thing that’s really nice about the Lions is we have one single objective, and that’s to serve the community. That unites us, everything else doesn’t matter,” says James, who is also chairperson of the Kilmaley School Board of Management, and chairman of the local Meithel Group. “I love people and love working with people,” he smiles, when asked about the time demands of being so actively involved in the community.
The District over which James will govern is made up of 90 clubs North and South, with 2,000 members. Lions is the biggest voluntary service organisation in the world with 1.4m members. Speaking about his time to date with Lions Club Ennis, James explains, “There’s a lot of good memories. When the Ukraine War broke out we were collecting at the Height and over a period of a week, we collected €60,000. There are other projects which are very endearing as well, we had a project up to Covid where we visited people in St Joseph’s who would have very few visitors. That cost no money, only time. It was a hugely satisfying project, to see people beaming with excitement.”
The club in Ennis has 35 members and James notes that they are always looking for new members. “The lifeblood of every club is regeneration, getting new members in. We need to keep new members coming in, they give us fresh energy, fresh points of view. As a member of Lions Club, we have a simple ethos. No 1 thing in life is your family, the second thing is your job, and the third thing is hopefully the Lions.”
