This article is from page 4 of the 2005-11-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
NORTH Clare County Councillor, Flan Garvey, (FF) has spoken out against the decision to grant preferential treatment to groups living closest to the controversial Ballyduff Beg waste manage- ment facility when the second round of commu- nity funding is allocated.
Councillor Garvey’s comments come in the wake of a decision made by the local Liaison Committee, ratified at the October 10 meeting of Clare County Council, to allow groups living in the Ballyduff area favourable status when the €55,440 in funding is distributed.
The decision was made on the foot of allega- tions of “obnoxious smells” emitted by the Bal- lyduff Beg facility which are causing discomfort to those in the area. Applications for the second round of funding for sustainable community- based environmental initiatives in Inagh, Kil- namona and Cloonanaha were requested last week.
“If the people around the edge of the dump have a problem then that is a different issue (from the funding) and they should bring their grievances to the County Council separately,” said Cllr Garvey. “It was made clear from the word go that this is a community environmental project and any group or organisation in the par- ish who fulfils the terms as set out is entitled to apply for a share of the €55,000.”
Responding to these comments the Chair- person of the Community Liaison Committee, Councillor Joe Arkins, stressed that funding is only being made available to organisations
rather than individuals and said that it was “un- fortunate” that Cllr Garvey had not attended the meeting when the matter was discussed.
‘As chairperson of the liaison committee it is my responsibility to bring the decision of the majority of the community to the council,” said Cllr Arkins. “It was the decision of the meeting that the next tranche of funding would favour the projects of those who have been adversely effected by the landfill. It 1s up to them to decide
how the funding is to be dispersed and they have done that.”
The local community receives €1.27 for every ton of waste disposed of at the Ballyduff Beg landfill. Since its opening in September of 2002 some 150,000 tonnes of waste have been dis- posed of at the site. It is predicted that the landfill has a capacity of close to 900,000 tonnes which represents more than €1 million of funding be- ing made available to the local community.