Month: February 2006

A SMALL group of residents from one of Ennis’ oldest residential areas has succeeded in their battle to prevent a “mini Ballymun flats complex”.

Ennis Town Council sold lands at Drumbiggle for €830,000 to four developers, Donie Dillane, John Dillane, Alan Collins and Pat Hansbury and subsequently granted planning permission for the developer’s contentious four-storey apartment block complex.

However, the decision was appealed by residents from the Buttermarket area of Ennis, concerned at the impact the development would have on their properties and day-today living.

Now, in a comprehensive ruling, the appeals board has overturned the council’s decision and ruled that the “proposal would also set an undesirable precedent for similar infill schemes within Architectural Conservation Areas of Ennis and elsewhere and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area”.

The appeals board ruled that the proposal, due to “its monolithic layout and form overshadowing of adjacent existing dwellings on Buttermarket Street, would seriously injure the existing built form, character, setting, heritage and residential amenity of the Architectural Conservation Area within which the site of the proposed development is located”.

The ruling came after a strong recommendation from inspector in the case.

The inspector stated: “I consider that in this instance the Applicant has missed the opportunity to create a new building of high quality on the site, whether of contemporary design or otherwise.

“The result is both inappropriate and unacceptable. Whilst the redevelopment of the subject site will contribute significantly to its urban setting, and is being actively sought by the Planning Authority, and is clearly acceptable in principle, I do not consider that this should be at the expense of the visual, environmental and residential amenities of the area, and of the future occupants of the proposed residential units, as I consider occurs in this instance. I therefore recommend a Refusal of Permission for the proposed development.”

The inspector remarked that the design requirements of the scheme had more in keeping with a multilevel development than to the sensitive and high-quality design and aesthetics required for this area, and the protection of the residential and other amenities thereof.

Local resident, Stephen Loftus said that the residents were pleased with the decision, describing the development of a “mini-Ballymun”.

Mr Loftus’s description of the proposal was supported by the Inspector who compared the proposal to “the undesirable form of early multi-storey public housing schemes”.

FEARS have been expressed in the Dáil that the Ennis-Galway rail-line will not be subsidised by Government. Iarnród Eireann claims that subsidisation is vital for the re-opening of the line.

As part of its “Transport 21” programme, the Government has made a commitment to re-open the EnnisAthenry line, linking rail services to Galway City, by 2008.

However, speaking in the Dáil, Fine Gael deputy, Pat Breen, expressed concern that the €300m€400m price tag of the western rail corridor would be soaked up on capital expenditure and that routes of the corridor would not be subsidised in the same way as other routes on the rail network.

“Will the rail line be subsidised similarly to other routes and will there be added incentives initially to encourage commuters to use the line?” he asked.

“The Minister should note the outstanding success of the Ennis-Limerick commuter line which was long fought for and once disregarded as being unworkable and commercially unviable. I use the service from time-to-time, when travelling on to Dublin.

“It allows one to escape the madness, chaos and unpredictability of travelling by road to Dublin. The service has been expanded since it was first announced, with the result that there is considerable pressure to expand the parking facilities at Ennis Railway Station.

“The Ennis-Athenry-Galway line will also be an outstanding success and I hope the work thereon will be completed in the timescale proposed by the Minister. It would link up two very important cities, Galway and Limerick, and would allow for an option to travel to Dublin.

However, in response to Deputy Breen’s queries, the Minister for State at the Department of Transport, Pat “The Cope” Gallagher, failed to provide any new information.

Councillor, Brian Meaney (GP) has expressed similar concerns about the Government’s commitment to the proposed rail service.

He alleges that Iarnród Éireann are not proceeding with any further work on the reopening of the rail line north of Ennis, until they get assurances that funding will be put in place to subsidise the running of the line over the next 15 years.

“This is the same management that wanted to close the rail link to Limerick as the claimed it could never be a success. Irish Rail should publish a work schedule for the reopening of the rail link to Galway and become part of the solution rather than the problem.”

Counsel for the State Stephen Coughlan outlined to the court that the accused appeared in court in Ennis in September 1983 on a sexual assault charge, where he got the benefit of the Probation Act.

He was also found guilty of breach of the peace, at Ennis District Court in September 1991, where he was ordered to keep the peace for two years and to stay away from members of a particular family.

This was the first time that this revelation was heard in court. Mr Coughlan said the records had not been available at previous hearings.

“It’s unfortunate these matters were not before you at the sentencing hearing,” he told the judge.

Defending barrister, Mark Nicholas, said he was not aware there were previous convictions and he said it was unsatisfactory that gardaí told the court there were no previous convictions.

“I’m somewhat embarrassed at the way this has come out at this stage,” said Mr Nicholas.

A MAN who abused two young brothers and gave them money or presents not to tell anybody, has been handed a three-year suspended jail sentence.

Thomas Waters (61), of Moore Street, Kilrush – an employee of ESB at Moneypoint – pleaded guilty to 20 counts of indecently assaulting one of his victims in the 1970s. He also admitted 12 counts of indecent assault and one count of buggery on another victim.

Waters was a judo instructor in his 20s when he committed the offences, over a five-year period. The abuse took place when the boys were between the ages of eight and 14, mainly at the accused’s home. Both victims are now in their 40s.

Handing down sentence, Judge Carroll Moran said Waters abused his position of trust. “He would give them presents or money – £5, which was a lot then – if they promised not to tell anybody,” he said.

Referring to a previous conviction which was revealed to the court for the first time last week, the judge said, “He does have a previous conviction for a similar offence.” The judge noted that the accused has been receiving psychiatric treatment for 20 years.

“He is suffering from a disease which cannot be cured. His treatment would be undone if a substantial prison sentence was imposed, where he would be incarcerated with other sex offenders,” said the Judge.

He said the accused had four more years to work and, if he lost this time, he would lose one-third of his pension. He noted that Waters was remanded in custody for over a month, at a previous sitting of the court.

“This is a difficult case. I have to decide if I should impose a custodial sentence. He has spent five weeks in prison and it cannot be said he has stayed out of prison on these matters. I cannot get over the gravity of this case and the trauma caused to the victims and the longevity with which they had to endure it.

“On the balance, society would be worse off if this man went to prison,” he said, adding that he would impose a three-year sentence, suspended for three years, on condition that he would not commit any offence of a sexual nature during that time. He ordered that each of the victims receive €30,000, which was Waters’ life savings and was brought to court by the accused.

A MAN who had been barred from a pub in Scarriff subsequently assaulted a member of the family who own the pub, by kicking him as he lay on the ground.

Michael Mongan (24), Clancy Park, Ennis and Kevin McMahon (20), of Plunkett Drive, Kilkishen, pleaded guilty to assaulting Conor McNamara, from Scarriff, outside the Queen’s nightclub in Ennis, on April 17, 2004.

Garda Brian O’Donnell told Ennis Circuit Court that he was sitting in a Garda car as people exited the nightclub.

He said Michael Mongan — a father-of-two — ran from the nightclub and struck Conor McNamara.

“He fell straight to the ground and as he was lying unconscious on the ground, he was kicked at least twice by Kevin McMahon,” said Garda O’Donnell.

He said the Mr McNamara received a fracture to the jaw and his head was grazed. He has since made a full recovery.

The court heard there had previously been an incident between the family of the injured party and Kevin McMahon. The McNamara family had barred McMahon from their pub and nightclub in Scarriff.

Mongan’s barrister, Pat Whyms, accepted that his client struck Mr McNamara with his fist, but did not kick him as he lay on the ground.

He said he was called a name outside the nightclub and then struck Mr McNamara.

McMahon’s barrister, Mark Nicholas, pointed out there was no prosecution arising out of the matter in the Scarriff pub.

He said his client owned up to assaulting the man while he lay on the ground and accepted that the injured party was “blameless.”

Judge Carroll Moran said, “There was clearly a background to this. It resulted from the fact that Mr McMahon had been barred from the licensed premises in Scarriff, belonging to the injured party’s family.”

He said Mongan’s blow “must have been violent”, as it rendered Mr McNamara unconscious.

He said that both men could be equally culpable.

“It arose from Mr McMahon’s dispute, but on the other hand Mr Mongans delivered the blow,” said the judge.

He said both accused men were working and said if each paid €5,000 in compensation, it would go a long way towards influencing his decision.

He adjourned the case to allow both to pay compensation and said if they failed to do that, they would face jail terms.

GARDAÍ say they are not treating as suspicious the death of a Lithuanian man, whose body was found at his home in Ennis on Saturday afternoon.

The 37-year-old man’s body was discovered by his landlord at around 2 o’clock.

He was fully clothed and was found slumped at the end of the bed at the house he rented at Linnane’s Terrace, on the Kilrush Road.

He had lived there alone.

A post-mortem examination was carried out on the body at the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Limerick yesterday. While the results would not be finalised for some time, Ennis Superintendent John Kerin said detectives had concluded that there were no grounds to suggest foul play.

“We do not believe this was suspicious. He may have been there for two or three days.”

Gardaí are satisfied they have positively identified the man.

They are liaising with the Lithuanian Embassy and Interpol, in an effort to get in contact with his family.

He had arrived in Ireland from the US and worked in a hotel in Ennis for a short period last year.

THE Minister for Enterprise and Employment and unions seem polls apart on the future role of Shannon Development in the Shannon Free Zone this weekend, despite months of talks.

SIPTU remains hopeful that it can convince Minister Michéal Martin to do a u-turn on his decision to take from Shannon Development, responsibility for foreign investment in the Shannon Free Zone and give it to the IDA.

A spokesperson for SIPTU told The Clare People that the unions would continue, “to try to dispel him” of his intent to give responsibility to the IDA.

“We have come to the end of a process of discussion with senior civil servants and hope to meet again with the Minister shortly,” the spokesperson said.

Defending the record of the IDA, the Minister said progress has been made with the unions and he hoped he could bring the matter to a conclusion shortly.

“The performance in the last two years in foreign direct investment has been good. I have been on a number of trade missions with the IDA and the pipe line is good.

“87,000 jobs were created in Ireland last year, quite a number of those were created in Clare as well, and unfortunately people keep looking for the big story about a particular factory coming in.

“But the bottom line is the vast majority of the jobs are created in the fours and the fives in small to medium sized enterprises across the country, some in the indigenous economy some from foreign direct investment.”

He said that his “ultimate objective” was to create additional jobs in Clare and Limerick.

“We have concentrated as well on embedding existing major companies in the region in Ireland against global competition.

“So, for example, with Dell and others, we have been constantly working with companies of that quality to add different functions to their existing functions and to maintain and secure the very substantial employment that is created in this region as a result of those kind of investments.

“Now there are issues around industrial policy and planning in terms of the Mid West and I have made a number of moves in that direction. If we can move ahead with the changes that we’ve suggested, working with everybody together, we can actually add to the number of jobs that we create from foreign direct investment in the region.”

IT IS not planners that Fianna Fáil councillors should be venting their frustration over one-off housing – it should be the Government.

That is the message from Graham Webb, who as Senior Executive Planner, was the top council official behind the drafting of the various Council Development Plans over the past five years that included the contentious “locals only” policy.

“These are frustrations in relation to policy, the councillors can’t be seen to be attacking their own party in public and it’s their own party that are bringing in these policies,” said Mr Webb

Councillors can’t explain away the policies, “because they are not policies with Clare in mind and that frustration has to be vented somewhere and so what better way than to throw it at the local planner,” he said.

Speaking in a personal capacity, Mr Webb said, “It’s inevitable. Planning is a political job, so when the politicians aren’t getting their way and they need to lash out, the most political person they lash out is the planner. It happens across the world, it is not unique to Clare.

“The councillors have a lot of angst, because they are out there day-in day-out, meeting people who are chewing their ear off because x, y and z can’t get planning for a house on their homeland for various reasons. Most of the time the land isn’t good enough and some of the time, (it’s for) policy reasons.”

On the call by councillors to ease restrictions on building one-off housing, Mr Webb said, “They’re entitled to call for it, but it is short-term gain for long term pain.

“It undermines the ability to build up the very settlements that we are trying to convince the Government that we need resources for and that we need infrastructure for.”

Mr Webb said that calls to change the council’s rural housing policy in the County Development Plan “doesn’t fundamentally alter the basic plan, the basic plan is a hugely successful document, it is one small part of it – rural housing – four pages out of a 70-page document.

“The rest of that 70 pages is what we rely upon for the economic development of the county, so if we have one particular row over four pages, so be it, it is not going to stop the world.”

CLARE County Council’s planners are currently running on empty and are constantly hassled by councillors who sit at their desks questioning them night and day.

That is the personal view of Senior Executive Planner, Graham Webb, who indicated that council management needed to re-evaluate the time given over to councillors by planners.

Leaving the council this week after more than five years service with the local authority, Mr Webb said that the council’s Planning Department “is totally under-resourced.”

“A lot of the issues that arose recently on the quality of service from the Planning Department is because the planners are running on empty.

“They’re effectively trying just to live with the basics of dealing with the planning applications on time. Any added service that they can offer is effectively coming out of their own pockets, so to speak.

“That is a situation where you are going to have a high turnover of planners, because it is far more attractive to work in a well-resourced planning authority or planning consultancy.”

Mr Webb said that currently the council had 18 planners with 15 working in development control and three in forward planning.

“At any one time, allowing for leave, you have 10 planners and there are more demands through changes in procedures. Unfortunately, they are not left alone to get on with it.

“They are constantly hassled by councillors who sit at their desks and question them night and day about this, that and the other, so most of them don’t start work until 5pm each evening when the door shuts and it is then that they can get their head down and they need to work through to 7pm and 8pm just to get the work done.”

Planners don’t get paid overtime. Mr Webb said that the reforms under better local government were “seen as the solution to everything, but in fact it was only the baseline to address the issues.

“I wouldn’t point the finger necessarily at management but there is a lack of awareness at management at what they are expecting of planning staff and we try to drive it home at every opportunity.

“But the willingness to allow access to planners by members, a willingness to give members just what they want in terms of their own particular projects they have running at the time – it is all placing demands on the same planners, time and time again.”

AN Bord Pleanala has refused planning permission for a hotel in Lahinch after concern was expressed that the proposal would lead to an escalation of the unsocial behaviour that has been on the increase in the area in recent times.

Last August, Clare County Council granted planning permission to William Stackpoole, to demolish an existing cottage on Lahinch’s Main Street and replace it with a 16 bedroom hotel, including a bar and restaurant.

However, the plan was put on hold after Donal and Pat Kenny of Kenny’s Woollen Mills appealed the council’s decision to An Bord Pleanala, stating that in the adjacent access lane to the proposed hotel, there were problems of unsocial behaviour following discos.

The appeal stated: “They fear that the provision of this additional covered area and further closing in the laneway between the two buildings, will provide an additional shelter for people to congregate following discos and result in an escalation of the unsocial behaviour, which has been on the increase in this area in recent times.”

The Kennys expressed concern that the building, as proposed, was a four storey structure and its scale and massing was out of character with the remainder of the buildings on the streetscape. They also claimed that the proposed development would result in a loss of privacy.

An Bord Pleanala’s inspector in the case found that the proposal would seriously injure the amenities of, and devalue, property in the vicinity by reason of overlooking neighbouring property to the north. The Inspector also recommended that planning be refused because of excessive site coverage. It was considered the proposal would constitute an overdevelopment of a restricted urban site and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area.

The board upheld the recommendation.