This article is from page 26 of the 2008-01-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 26 JPG
CHILDCARE, education, social housing, training, healthcare and physical infrastructure were the ar- eas targeted for investment in Clare under the National Development Plan during the past year.
Childcare services were allocated funding of €7.3 million for such projects as Cuan Aire Creche in En- nis, Kildysart Community Focus and West Clare Early Years Care and Education Service.
Ten schools received funding to manage their own building projects, while under the Summer Works Scheme, 26 schools received a total of €2.1 million for remedial works. Schools to benefit included Quilty National School, Ennis Community College and Kilrush Community School. A number of health projects were completed, including the Health Clinic Extension in Ennistymon which received over €500,000.
Meanwhile hundreds of local people are employed due to participation on a wide range of FAS training courses and other programmes. Industry and jobs have been created through the support of the NDP-funded County Enterprise Board (CEB). Clare CEB was allocated over €874,000 with 28 different projects grant aided. Com- panies included De Barra Publishing Ltd; Authentic Ireland Travel and Olga O’ Malley Childcare Creche.
Clare received €14.9 million for social housing, including projects in Sixmilebridge, Corofin, Scar- riff, Killaloe and Kuildysart. Over €332,000 for voluntary housing was provided for projects such as Kilmi- hil Community Housing and the Banner Housing Association. The Local Development Social Inclu- sion Programme (LDSIP) continued to fund local partnerships like Eiri Corca Baiscinn, Ennis West Partners and OBAIR, Newmarket-on-Fergus Limited.
The Clare Accessible Transport Initiative, which provides services to rural communities, was also assisted, while €900,000 was allocated for refurbishment of the Bus Eireann station in Ennis. Over €20million was allocated to non-national roads including the Ballybeg Road.
Over €25 million was allocated for national road improvements and maintenance. The opening of the En- nis Bypass is estimated to have taken 20,000 vehicles a day off the streets of Ennis.
The second phase of the NDP’s Metropolitan Area Networks pro- gramme will see the roll-out of broadband infrastructure to many towns. Kilrush was selected for this scheme and the network is currently under construction.
The waste infrastructure grant in 2007 was over €1.04 million to pro- mote greater use of recycling and
recovery. The allocation to upgrade and expand water treatment capac- ity, improve drinking water quality and supply, and improve and expand wastewater treatment was over €24
million. €24 million was allocated to upgrade and expand water treat- ment services.
Clare received an allocation of €1.13 million for tourism develop-
ment. The Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre opened and other projects included Blackhead Angling Facili- ties and Lough Derg International Waterpark.