Managed by the Office of Public Works since the late 19th century, it was formally returned to the Franciscan Order in 1969.

The Franciscan friars have moved their community to a new friary and place of worship, the Gothic Revival Church of the Immaculate Conception, nearby.

Reportedly in order to do penance, he decided to build a friary on an island in the River Fergus called Cluain Rámhfhada (meadow of the long rowing), which may have been the site of an earlier church.

After the Normans occupied Limerick, Donnchadh submitted to King John and moved his seat of power to Cluain Rámhfhada (Ennis) in 1216.

[3]: 16 Donnchadh financed three monasteries: he rebuilt the Cistercian abbey at Inislounaght (Tipperary), built a house for the Dominicans at Limerick and a Franciscan friary at Ennis, which would also serve as the family place of burial.

He was buried at the Dominican house at Limerick, suggesting that the friary at Ennis was not yet close to being finished at that point.

In 1277, Brian Ruadh Ó Briain of Bunratty was assassinated and Turlough became King of Thomond.

[3]: 17 Apart from support from the ruler, the friary could only rely on the charity of the local population as it owned no land or other economic resources at that time.

[3]: 18 The Desmond Rebellions unsettled the area after 1569 and in 1570 Edward Fitton held the assizes in Ennis Friary itself, having been forbidden to do so a year earlier by Connor O'Brien.

In 1585, he became a member of the parliament called by John Perrot and he supported Richard Bingham, when he set a fixed tax of 10 shillings per quarter acre.

In 1588, Donogh O'Brien became a member of the Council of Connaught and at that point received considerable income from the properties of the former Franciscan houses of Ennis and Quin.

In the early 17th century, he asked the Church of Ireland to take over Ennis Friary as a place of worship.

One friar, who had returned from Spain to Ennis, was captured but declared insane by Donogh, as he was a member of the Broudin family, who served as the biographers of the O'Briens.

[3]: 19 A Provincial Chapter was not held until 1666 and following the passing of the Penal Laws Laurence Considine led the friars into exile in 1697, thus formally terminating the presence of the order at Ennis Friary.

The Franciscans in Ennis, after having hidden outside of town for a time in the 17th and 18th century, were again living as a community in Lysaght's Lane by 1800.

[1] The walls of the church, the Gothic bell tower and the transept chapel are still standing, as is the east range and parts of the cloister.