A Brief History
The old Toonagh school was opened in 1845 just before Ireland's great famine and continued to be the local education centre until 1964 when the new school was built. The local landlord named McGrath, resident in Toonagh Estate was responsible for building the old school at a cost of possibly a few hundred pounds with the help of voluntary labour. In the mid 1960's when the old scho
ol became vacant it was taken over by a newly formed branch of Muintir na Tire. It was used for meetings, music, drama, dancing and various other gatherings. A very active athletics club was formed in Toonagh around this time named Dysart AC and the club made use of the facility. In 1971 the hall was built costing a few thousand pounds and this has served the local and wider community well. Toonagh Ceili Band was formed and many notable musicians began their careers under Frank Custy's tuition. Clare County Council made a grant of £9,000 available, a huge amount of voluntary labour and an excellent fund raising group contributed to this major task. Indoor Football, Basketball, Volleyball and Handball were some of the games played over the years. Handball was the game that was most successful. The Handballers of Toonagh proudly carried it's name throughout the country and beyond winning numerous titles. Cumann na mBunscoil Handball first began in Toonagh and became a national competition.
