Every Monday and Friday morning from 10am, artist Fiona Faulkes can be found setting up a mobile shower unit at Friars Walk bus park in Ennis.
According to homeless charity Mid West Simon, there are about 14 street homeless people in Ennis at any one time, although that figure can fluctuate.
Having spent five years living in London while homeless, Ms Faulkes realised there was no facility for street homeless people in Ennis to have a shower.
She started a mobile shower service in August of 2025, and in recent weeks she launched the service for the current year.
The shower operates from a specially designed tent and the water is heated by a gas cylinder. About seven people regularly use the facility.
"It's not ideal but I have a water source, I have privacy barriers and it's a start. This is very much a service in its infancy and it can only get better," she said.
"I was homeless for years in London, I know what it's like not to be able to get clean. Trust me, it's miserable. Try washing your feet in a public toilet, it's not much fun."
Ms Faulkes said her homelessness followed a "series of relationship breakdowns and a lot of bad choices".
"When you're breaking from homelessness, you're leaving these friends and they don't want you to go. It's difficult to get away but it is doable," she said.
"After I moved to Ennis and my children had grown up, I wanted to give back and the first thing I was told was that there was nowhere to get cleaned up."
Ms Faulkes said a mobile shower for homeless people was first put in place in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Currently only men use the shower but she has plans to make it available to women.
"I have to admit a few times I wanted to give up because it was really, really hard going," she said.
"It will be super discreet and women only volunteers. I want to turn it into more of a care centre. I've had volunteers who are hairdressers and a nurse.
"It's a meeting place as well. Not everyone on the street has a phone. A lot of it is word of mouth and it's about helping people to feel relevant.
"What I say to the lads is, I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this with you."
As Ms Faulkes was speaking, one her volunteer colleagues was helping to get the shower up and running for the morning.
He said it was his way of giving back as he was the first person to use the shower in 2025 when he was homeless himself.
"I was homeless for about a year and a half. This did help while I had nowhere," he said, adding that he is hopeful the service can be expanded.
"It gives you a bit of self-respect. People look at you differently. When you're sitting around the street all day, people's eyes are constantly on you.
"You'd feel better going in and out of shops, where people would be thinking: 'This fella is going to rob something'."
Niall Garvey, the Chief Executive of Mid West Simon, said there are a number of people in Ennis who are street homeless.
"It's estimated that there are about 14 people rough sleeping in Ennis. The weather can have an effect on it as well," he said.
"Any service to help people that don't have a home is beneficial of course.
"In Limerick, people can call into a drop in centre but in Ennis there is no service like that available."
Listen: Mobile shower unit for homeless people in Ennis, Co Clare, changing people's lives
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