Month: May 2006

CLARE County Council’s new €27.5 million headquarters will not be in place until 2008 — one year later than originally scheduled.

Demolition work is expected to commence on the council’s increasingly dilapidated old HQ on Ennis’s New Road in the next number of weeks, with construction work expected to last 20 months.

This imposes a new deadline of January 2008 on the development.

However, in April of last year, councillors were told in a report that work would be commencing on the project in June last year and be completed over a 20-month period to February 2007.

At the signing of the contract with Michael McNamara and Co last December, county manager, Alec Fleming, said that he expected “construction of the corporate headquarters to commence in early spring”.

This failed to commence and independent councillor, Patricia McCarthy said that the delay “is not satisfactory”.

“It is a pity that there is a delay, but now that work has started, I would hope that the contractor would finish the work within the deadline and that there would be no cost-overruns,” she added.

Currently, the council’s offices are located at various venues around Ennis.

Cllr McCarthy commented, “The current situation is very awkward for the public, staff and public representatives.”

Cllr Martin Conway (FG) said, “My biggest concern is the additional costs as a result of delay as the council is paying large rents for various offices across Ennis.”

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) said that he was disappointed with the delay.

“The current set-up is not good for the harmony of the organization with departments at different locations around Ennis.”

Over the past number of months, the contractors have relocated the machinery yard and other facilities to Beechpark on the Kilmaley Road.

A spokesman said, “The work at Beechpark is now completed as scheduled and the Machinery Yard, together with record storage facilities and archive storage facilities, are now provided at the Beechpark site.

“The transfer of the actual facilities and records has taken place over the past few weeks.”

McNamara’s are actually on site in New Road at present, preparing for the demolition and subsequent construction of the new headquarters.

The contract in the works was not signed until last December due to the complexity involved in the 35-year agreement.

AFTER years of controversy, setbacks and a long battle for planning permission, the Pol an Ionain cave in Doolin will officially open its doors to the public this Friday.

The cave, which boasts the world’s largest free-hanging stalactite, will employ up to 20 local people during peak periods and could cater for as many as 65,000 visitors a year.

The cave was the subject of an extended battle for planning permission which saw the developers taking their case to the High Court being allowed to begin work on the site.

“It is done and dusted as far as we are concerned,” said Helen Browne, who is developing the cave along with her husband John. “We wouldn’t be human if we were not disappointed that it took so long but that is life, I suppose.”

Clare County Council granted planning permission to develop the cave in 2000 but this permission was overturned by An Bord Pleanála in February 2001, before the developers took the matter to the High Court to resolve the matter.

The cave will operate on a yearround basis, with tours — consisting of no more than 20 people — being run on an hourly basis.

“I think that it will be a big positive for the locality. It will help to make the tourist season longer and provide some employment,” continued Ms Browne.

“It will operate alongside Ailwee Caves. Caves tend to form together in limestone areas and it is not be uncommon for a number of clusters to operate in one area.”

The stalactite was discovered in 1959 and is believed to be the largest known free-standing stalactite in the world, measuring almost 24 feet.

It was developed using non-explosive drilling techniques to protect the ecology of the cave and its surrounding area. Sensor equipment has been installed by Hull University in England, which is designed to protect the delicate structure of the stalactite from any erosion.

To facilitate visitors’ access to the cave, an 80-foot metal stairs was installed at the cave using a specialist crane yesterday (Monday).

The stalactite was formed over millions of years with the slow dropping of water and limestone from a tiny crack in the caves ceiling.

CONSULTANTS who were paid €150,000 for preparing the Ennis and Environs Development Plan this week came under fire in a Clare County Council review of the development plan process.

As part of the draft ‘Public Consultant Strategy for Planning in Clare’, the council reveals that an unnamed firm of consultants were paid €150,000 for their work on the Ennis and Environs Development Plan.

However, acting senior executive planner, Candace Ingram, said that the Ennis plan took longer than expected to prepare in the pre-draft stages, “due in part to the consultants who did not fully engage with council management and planners”.

Ms Ingram writes, “The extent of public consultation on the Residential Development Areas gave rise to levels of expectation amongst the public that were unachievable and produced draft master plans for the areas that were too conceptual and not robustly tested against engineering requirements or realistic funding levels.”

Ms Ingram reports that following an increase in staffing levels in the Council’s Forward Planning Unit, the consultants were no longer engaged in preparing the plan. She said the master plans for the residential developments areas have still not been finally completed although the technical assessment of proposals and agreements for standards of urban design and road layout are advanced and should be completed in 2006.

In relation to the preparation of the West Clare Area Plan, Ms Ingram writes, “Lack of feedback to the community was an issue that resulted in the Rural Action Project and Eiri Corca Baiscinn holding their own meetings during the consultation period on the draft plan to which planners were invited to attend.”

She said, “This led to a distortion of the development objectives of the plan because the Council has lost close involvement with its own consultation process.”

The document has come before the Council’s Special Policy Committee (SPC) for Planning and the document lays out the template for the future preparation of development plans.

At the Council’s SPC meeting, the Council’s Director for Planning, Bernadette Kinsella said, “This is a very important document and will serve as a template for other areas.”

Ms Kinsella said that the document will show that unreal expectations were created in some situations and that there is not one right way to engage with the public.

Discussion on the document was adjourned to allow members examine the document in detail.

SUFFERERS of arthritis in Clare are calling for more services to be made available in the county.

Members of the Clare branch of Arthritis Ireland say that people are being forced to make uncomfortable journeys outside the county to receive the correct treatment.

The branch made the call ahead of an information and awareness day to be held on Sunday, May 7 in the Auburn Lodge Ennis from 3-6pm.

Committee member Biddy Fitzpatrick says there is a lack of suitable services within the county for Arthritis sufferers.

“Definitely a lot more needs to be done,” she said. “We need a rheumatologist for Clare.

“We only have one coming out every two weeks and that is not enough.

“There are people forced to travel to Limerick, Cork, Galway and Dublin.”

The Clare branch have discussed the matter with the Health Services Executive (HSE) and are hopeful that more services will be provided in the future.

Mrs Fitzpatrick, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and has had two knee replacement operations, says travelling is a very uncomfortable experience for arthritis sufferers.

“It is a very painful condition and it no joke, I can tell you, if you have to go travelling,” she said.

“But the operations were worth it in the long run,” she said.

“I would encourage people to come to the information nights so they know what services are available to them.”

The information day will feature three lectures by specialists and will begin with a lecture on “New Advances in Rheumatology” from Dr. Carmel Silke, consultant rheumatologist with the Galway Clinic.

This will be followed by Ms. Jutta Brassil, an acupuncturist from Ennis, who will speak on ‘The Role of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Arthritis’.

Mr. Aiden Devitt, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon from Merlin Park Hospital Galway will also speak, as will Ms. Eileen O’Connor, a local physiotherapist.

In addition to the four talks on the day, Aids to Independence, Ennis Leisure Centre, Personal Lifting Systems, Carmel’s Health Store, Arthritis Ireland and the Citizen’s Information Service will be displaying a range of information on a variety of issues.

“Our aim is to bring support, information and education to people with arthritis,” said a spokesperson for Arthritis Ireland.

“The findings of a recent survey highlight that 42 per cent of chronic pain cases in this country remain undiagnosed.

“And five per cent of survey respondents have never seen their doctor about their chronic pain.”

THE Irish Whale and Dolphin Group Co-ordinator, Dr Simon Berrow was full of praise for all who helped with the rescue of a stranded whale at Inch beach, when he returned home to Kilrush.

Describing the rescue as a model refloating operation, he said it was “a collective success for everyone involved.”

The three tonne pilot whale was discovered stranded but alive on inch strand, Kerry at 8.30 on Saturday mooring.

Across the estuary in Clare Dr Berrow was listening to Mooney Goes Wild when he got the call.

Crossing from West Clare to Kerry aboard the ferry Simon brought with him the full specialised IWDG “live stranding kit” which included an inflatable whale pontoon.

Kevin Flannery of the Department of the Marine, and Director of Mara Beo, was on the beach and had the situation under control when the Clare based whale and dolphin expert arrived.

“Local NPWS Conservation ranger Paschal Dower and Kevin Flannery had, together with a large number of willing helpers, dug a pool and put blankets and towels over the whale to keep it cool and were pouring water over it,” said an impressed Dr Berrow.

“The water was being ferried up from the distant sea in a bulk carrier on the back of a trailer. Despite the large number of people, estimated to be over 200, the atmosphere was calm but busy.

“Pilot whales usually occur offshore and are good candidates for refloating if stranded on a gently sloping sandy beach such as those found in Dingle bay.

“Thus this whale was deemed suitable to attempt to refloat,” he told The Clare People .

The collective group decided that rather than wait hours for the tide to reach the whale they would attempt to move it down the beach and into the sea.

“We rolled the tarpulin from the pontoon under the whale and secured it around the whale’s tailstock like a sling,” Simon Berrow said.

“We put another sling the under tarpulin under the whale’s head to keep it up. A rope was secured onto the front of the tarpulin and secured to the tow bar of a landrover. Together with around 20 people we managed to slowly pull the tarpulin with the whale on it, down the beach.”

“It worked remarkably well,” said Simon Berrow, “within two slow but controlled pulls we had the whale in the incoming tide”.

The pontoons were then attached and filled with compressed air and the whale slowly pulled into the water.

A DEVELOPER must pay €2.3 million to Ennis Town Council in order to proceed with a 236 residential unit in the Lifford area of Ennis.

It is believed that the fee, to be paid by Michael Lynch Ltd, is the highest amount paid to Ennis Town Council over a single development, since the introduction of the council’s developer contribution scheme.

Councillor Brian Meaney (GP) warned that it was inevitable that the costs would be passed onto housebuyers.

But he defended the scheme, which is required under Government legislation aimed at generating additional revenues for public infrastructure, such as water, sewage and amenities.

The development comprises of 128 terraced homes, 44 townhouses and 64 apartments for Drehidnagower, Lifford. The council has granted permission for the proposal with 58 conditions in spite of opposition from the Pine Grove Residents Association and Marie O’Keeffe, on behalf of O’Keeffe oil, whose depot is situated close by.

Cllr Meaney said “it was entirely correct and fair” for Ennis Town Council to levy development contributions on developers.

“The system is transparent. It is regrettable that it has taken this long for a levy scheme to be put in place,” he said. “The levies are needed to ensure that viable communities are put in place and Ennis Town Council needs the funding, in terms of the Ennis Water Supply and other issues. Joined-up thinking is needed to ensure that the monies are spent in the right areas.”

The residents claimed the development did “not harmonise with existing developments”, and would destroy the character of the area.

They also asked that the developer indemnify Pine Grove residents in the event of flooding and damage to their basketball court as a result of the proposed development and any associated work.

Marie O’Keeffe objected on a number of grounds, including the development’s density.

“What has been proposed, however, is the highest density of housing mentioned in the Ennis and Environs Plan as possible for attainment within the urban area based on substantial elements of three-storey developments; terraced housing and the rental-orientated housing to be serviced by substantial areas of communal open space.

“The applicant has departed from the objectives of the plan to such a degree that it is considered that a grant of permission in this case would represent a material contravention of the existing Development Plan,” she said.

IT IS inevitable that the format for controlling markets in the county will change.

That is according to a Clare County Council source who said that the current legislation adopted by the county differs from every other local authority in Munster.

The official made the statement in the same week that some smaller towns across Clare lost their 400year-old right to hold a market under the Casual Trading Act introduced in 1995.

Under section 74 of the act any town or village that did not exercise its right to hold a market for more than ten years lost the right. At least four villages in the county are believed to have lost that right as of May 1.

Under the Casual trading act local authorities could decide to issue casual trading licence or allow trading only in designated areas.

All counties in Munster except Clare opted for the latter. As a result Clare County Council currently allows all traders with a casual licence to trade in areas the public have a right to, including public roads.

It is now inevitable, a council official has said, that Clare will impose designated areas for trading.

To add further complication to the trading laws some families have rights to trade in public areas going back hundreds of years.

For example in Ballyvaughan, WM McNamara, during the fourth year of the reign of William IV, was given a licence for a four-day market. It is unlikely, however, that his descendants will be traced to ask if they intend to keep this right.

Private marketing licences not dissimilar to that example are currently the subjects of a court case taken in Bantry, Co Cork.

Court cases are never too far away when trading and associated rights are concerned. As well as the now infamous high court challenge of the Cliffs of Moher traders, Clare County Council also faced a court challenge in Kilkee in 1990.

The council tried to move that traders from the market square to the Well Road car park but the court decided to move the traders would be restrict them.

Ennis Town Council and Kilrush Town Council have their own by-aws for trading.

THE promoters of a €1.2 million proposal to commemorate GAA founder, Michael Cusack, face a race against time to get in place a new visitor centre, before the 100th anniversary of the Carron man’s death in November.

Michael Cusack Development Co. Ltd., have been granted planning permission to transform Cusack’s cottage in Carron and construct an interpretative centre.

Clare County Council granted permission after An Taisce withdrew its opposition against the proposal, in response to the promoters making alterations to the scheme.

Project leader and chairman of Michael Cusack Development Co Ltd, Martin O’Loghlen, said that he was delighted that planning permission had been secured.

“It is a major hurdle humped. It is all systems go now and we will simply push on with the development,” he said. “November 28 is the centenary of Michael Cusack’s death and that is our target and if we don’t meet that deadline to have all the facilities in place, it won’t be from the lack of trying.”

Mr O’Loghlen said that the restoration of the cottage should be completed by the anniversary.

“We are also putting in place a visitor centre and it may be asking a lot to have that complete, but that is our aim.”

Fundraising for the venture is to continue. To date, the company has raised €750,000. “There is a lot of work to be done and money to be raised,” said Mr O’ Loghlen.

He added that the centre was aiming for between 25,000 and 30,000 visitors to the attraction each year.

“Carron is one of those areas that has not really benefited from tourism in the Burren and I would like to think that this will change with the project we are putting in place. The community has struggled for 30 years to put a project like this in place.”

Mr O’Loghlen said that the centre would also redress Michael Cusack been partially written out of history.

He said that the object of the plan was, “to commemorate and celebrate a dynamic force in Irish society, create a unique and memorable participant experience for all and ensure a project that is distinct, sustainable and viable”.

Chairman of Burren IFA and Carron man, Michael Davoren, said the people of Carron were 100 per cent behind the project. “Michael Cusack is part of the heritage of Carron,” he said.

THE Irish Refugee Council (IRC) this week stated that asylum seekers cannot avail of local housing, and sounded a warning over the use of language on the issue.

Last week, Ennis’s Town Mayor, Frankie Neylon said that “there is no way in the world” that council housing should be provided pro rata to the town’s asylum seeker population.

Cllr Neylon (Ind) made his comment in response to figures showing that 40 per cent of the applicants on the council’s housing list are asylum seekers and refugees.

The council has since clarified that the number (282) referred to “foreign nationals” – this would include a sizeable proportion of refugees.

A spokeswoman said: “Nine foreign national families have been appointed to houses in the new council’s housing estate in Roslevan and four were appointed in 2005.

“All of the 282 qualified for housing. However, subsequent allocation of a house to a tenant depends on the level of need and availability of appropriate suitable accommodation. Policy on access to housing accommodation in relation to foreign nationals is determined at national level.

“The council does not determine such policy in this regard.”

The figures show that the numbers of foreign nationals on the housing list has increased by 90% in the past three years. In 2003, there were 148 foreign nationals on the 590-strong list.

Orla Ni Eili of the Irish Refugee Council commented, “Asylum seekers do not have the right to council housing. The foreign nationals on the council’s housing list would include people from Europe and the US.

“The Refugee Council is currently seeking clarification from the county council as to what stage someone on the list becomes an Irish citizen.

“Is it when someone gains an Irish passport? It is important that we find this out.”

Ms Ni Eili said that a number of refugees have availed of the council’s Shared Ownership Scheme.

“It is the experience of the Irish Refugee Council (IRC) that when refugees are on the housing list, it is a time for them when they are rebuilding their work and educational lives and wouldn’t be in high economic circumstances,” she said.

“When talking about these issues, it is important that we are very clear on the language we use.

“This is not about being politically correct, but there is a need to be accurate when we are talking about many different groupings of people.”

Separate figures provided by the council show that houses are not being allocated to foreign nationals on a proportional basis.

Last year, the council allocated just four homes to non-nationals out of a total of 46.

CLARE County Council is to proceed with plans to develop a further four permanent Traveller halting sites in Ennis and Liscannor this year. The sites will accommodate 20 families and the estimated cost is €6 million.

Last week the council announced that, after almost a decade, all Clare Travellers have been accommodated and there are no longer any Travellers living without water or sanitation on the roadside.

However, arising from new Traveller family formations and the need to accommodate those living in temporary emergency accommodation, the council has identified an accommodation need for 88 families, with 64 in immediate need.

According to an update provided to members of the Special Policy Committee (SPC), the council has identified sites at the Tulla Rd, Kilrush Rd and Ashline in Ennis and Laghcloon, Liscannor.

The update states, “Every effort will be made in 2006 to progress the construction of the permanent traveller accommodation sites as identified in the programme as a matter of urgency.”

Last year, the new Traveller Accommodation Programme was thrown into disarray after the council withdrew its Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for its original site earmarked for the Kilrush Rd.

County manager, Alec Fleming made the rare move after councillors voiced their opposition to the CPO on the lands at Kilmorane on the outskirts of Ennis. In pursuing the CPO, the council had placed in jeopardy two €250,000 homes currently being built for two elderly settled couples on the site.

Outlining the progress on the plan, the council’s acting director for housing, Josephine Cotter-Coughlan said, “In recent weeks, five Traveller families have been allocated standard local authority housing by Ennis Town Council and they will be taking up accommodation in the coming weeks.

“One further family has accepted accommodation from a voluntary body in the Ennis area and will also be taking up residency in the coming weeks. Clare County Council are currently advancing plans for a number of Group Housing Schemes in the Ennis and Ennistymon areas.

“Sites have been identified and discussions are taking place with the landowners involved. Permanent accommodation must be provided for the families living in the temporary emergency sites.

“There are also a number of families living in private rented or sharing with family members that must be accommodated in the current programme.

“There will also be new families formed in the coming years and their accommodation needs must be met,” she said.