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A 36 PER cent increase in the numbers of houses sold in Clare last year may indicate that the property market is stabilising slightly, but one established auctioneer believes that growth in sales will drop again this year.

Diarmuid McMahon of Sherry FitzGerald Ennis believes that there was a surge in sales last year for a number of reasons, including tax relief on mortgages, but a lack of saleable property now on the market means the number of sales are likely to dip again this year.

“Availability is down on last year,” said the auctioneer.

According to the property price register, 565 properties were sold in Clare in 2012, compared to 414 in 2011.

Those buying were mainly first time buyers taking advantage of mortgage tax relief, and people with cash buying into the market at very low prices and prepared to keep the property for more than a decade.

“Prices have dropped an average of 50 per cent and often 60 per cent. Many places in Clare are selling for less than the construction cost. This cannot be sustained in the long term,” said Mr McMahon.

He said that there is currently development land in the Ennis area for sale for € 15,000 an acre with phase one zone development. This land would previously have sold for half a million euro an acre.

And while a lot of property was sold last year, the majority of it was stock that had been with estate agents for a long time.

“A lot of it was mopped up last year,” said Mr McMahon.

Much of the remaining property will remain on the books however as vendors are not prepared to drop prices any further, hoping that next year will not be worse, even if it is not better, explained the Ennis estate agent.

There is also very few new properties coming on to the market, he added.

The majority of those looking for a new home are first time buyers or young families.

However a lot of the property available is not necessarily suitable to their needs.

FOUR decades of work in the local government sector was recognised last evening (Monday) when a civic reception was awarded to Joe Boland. Mr Boland worked for more than 40 years in the sector, including a 23-year term as Clare County and Ennis Town Manager.

Ennis Town Council hosted the event in recognition of what it described as the “significant contribution Joe Boland made to County Clare and especially to the development of Ennis between 1960 and 1983”.

Mr Boland was lauded for his direct role in spearheading the development of a strategic plan for industrial and residential development in the town, the delivery of major drainage and water supply schemes, the provision of the De Valera Library, and the implementation of a major and continuous Housing Programme which led to the replacement of derelict sites with open spaces and carparks in the town centre.

Addressing last evening’s Civic Reception, Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Peter Considine (FF) said, “During his term as County and Town Manager, the town of Ennis experienced a period of enormous change.

It was under Joe’s stewardship that every opportunity was grasped to ensure that Ennis would be able to be- come what it is today, one of the largest towns in the region with a proud economic, social, cultural and political history which is a legacy that we must protect.

“While the extension of the Ennis Urban Boundary took place in 1989, Joe also played an important role, prior to retirement, in preparing the ground for its successful conclusion. The extension of the Boundary for Ennis was significant in terms of income for the town. We must continue to build on this achievement so as to ensure that the town of Ennis remains the capital of County Clare in terms of tourism, economic development, community engagement and active citizenship.”

During his time as County and Town Manager, Mr Boland has also held the position of Chairman of Lisdoonvarna Fáilte Ltd from 1967 to 1983, Director of Syntex Ireland (Roche Ireland), Trustee of Clare Social Service Council (now known as Clarecare) from 1968 to 1983, Director of Craggaunowen Project from 1972 to 1984, and Director of Rent an Irish Cottage Ltd from 1976 to 1978.

DESPITE going more than two weeks without any rain, Clare recorded a year-on-year increase in the amount of rain which fell last month.

According to figures obtained from the Met Eireann station at Shannon Airport, the monthly rainfall last month was almost half what it normally is for the month of February. Despite the unseasonably dry conditions, last month actually represented a year-on-year increase in rainfall in the county from 38.6 millimeters in 2012 to 49.6 this year.

Indeed, last month’s dry weather is a continuation of a trend which has been seen in Clare over the last three years. Rainfall levels in February, March and April have been uncommonly low since 2011, with wetter than normal months of June and July also recorded.

Farmers and gardeners in the county can also expect a slower than normal start to the growing season this year, as average temperatures are down on previous years. The average ground temperature in Clare last month was just 5.3 degrees, compared to a posi- tively balmy 7.7 degrees for the same month in 2012.

Despite the positive effects of the recent dry spell, the low soil temperature will hamper the growth of grass and non-hardy vegetables and plants.

The recent cold snap could also have a detrimental effect on grass growth in the county. The sub-freezing of this week looks likely to knock back any early growth across the county.

This comes as many farmers throughout the county are struggling for winter feed as a result of last year’s poor silage harvest.

JOHN O’DWYER’S Builders Providers and DIY Store in Kilrush is to close its doors at the end of the month with the loss of seven of the eight jobs.

Owner, John O’Dwyer described as “rotten” the realisation that he had to close the store on the Cooraclare Road, six months after the Ennis store ceased trading.

He said that some of the staff were with him for more than 10 years and had worked at the Quilty store, making the decision all the more difficult.

The hardware store owner did not attribute the reason for the drop in business, which led to the store’s closures, solely to the drop in the building sector.

“The general spend of our customers is down, even in paint and white goods. So much has gone out of people’s household budgets, and the weekend trade which was once very busy has been down significantly,” he said.

“The weekend trade has been affected. We were a good employer one time. Three years ago, we had 52 staff. At the end of March, we will have just 18 staff members left,” he said.

Mr O’Dwyer said that all vouchers and guarantees from the Kilrush store will be honoured at the Miltown Malbay store and customers should not be concerned.

He added the Miltown Malbay store will continue to trade, looking after customers not only in that area but also customers from Kilrush and Ennis.

“When we closed Ennis, we managed to keep a lot of our customer base, and delivered directly to them. We hope to keep our Kilrush base by providing the same value delivery service,” he said.

Optimistic about the future, Mr O’Dwyer said that the company owns both buildings in Ennis and Kilrush, “so if things pick up, we look forward to opening them again.”

The seven staff at the Kilrush store were given a month’s notice that the shop is to close on March 30.

CALLS for Ennis Town Council not to accept representations from Clare TDs and engage in a form of “blue flu” strike action have been rejected by councillors.

The proposal was tabled by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) at the March meeting of Ennis Town Council.

In the motion, Cllr Meaney stated, “Having regards to the proposed abolition of town councils and the refusal of Clare TDs to, in any way, contribute to the costs of running of Ennis Town Councils services despite their ongoing representations to avail of these services. Taking account that they have no mandate to town councils and should concentrate on national matters. I humbly request that the council no longer assist the impression hawked by our Oireachtas members that they have a function in local authority matters. I request that this council cease to accept representations from our Oireachtas members and request them to direct such representations to the elected members of Ennis Town Council.”

Explaining his reason for submitting the motion, Cllr Meaney referred to a letter sent by the Impact trade union to members of the then government parties, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, in March 2010.

The letter stated that in response to cuts in public service salaries, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) had requested that that all public service unions commence a work to rule as part of a campaign to reverse the cuts.

Andy Pike, Impact Assistant General Secretary, stated that the campaign included a bar on processing all political representations from government TDs, senators and coun- cillors.

Cllr Meaney said the letter had left a “sour taste” in his mouth.

He told the meeting that if a trade union could stop councillors making representations, then the council could do the same to TDs.

Cllr Meaney said TDs had treated the council chamber with “disdain”.

He said the motion would illustrate the unhappiness with the decision to abolish town councils if members had the “nerve and steel” to pass it.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) said the council could not direct staff not to deal with TDs representations.

Cllr Brennan did however express annoyance that the outcome of some private council meetings on housing were disclosed to members of the public.

The council did pass a proposal from Cllr Brennan that correspondence for the mayor and councillors be sent only to those recipients and not TDs.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said he could not support Cllr Meaney’s motion.

He added, “I think we should be working with our Oireachtas members instead of throwing dirt at each other.”

Cllr Paul O’Shea (Ind) criticised Cllr Meaney’s motion, describing as “bordering on the ridiculous”.

Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) expressed support for Cllr Meaney, saying it was one of the “better motions” to come before the council.

He said by abolishing local authorities, the Government are “taking the voice away from the people”.

In his reply, town clerk Leonard Cleary stated, “Ennis Town Council is obliged to have regard to the 2001 Local Government Act and the regulations commenced subsequently. In this regard the council is required to brief Oireachtas members on council services. The council is also required to engage with all other arms of the State including the Oireachtas.”

Cllr Meaney’s motion was not passed. A second proposal, calling for the council to engage in a “blue flu” style strike action in relation to TDs representations, was not supported.

THE NUMBER of homeless people in Clare has skyrocketed over the last 12 months with local agencies reporting scores or families going hungry in the county each week.

A total of 304 homeless people presented in Clare last year, an increase of more than 23 per cent on the 2011 figure. That is according to the draft report of the Mid West Regional Action Plan, which is due to be published later this week. The report also reveals that 17 Clare people identified themselves as being homeless to Limerick City Council, 14 to Limerick County Council at 2 to North Tipperary County Council.

Domestic violence was the main cause of homeless in Clare last year with 83 people made homeless because of an unsafe home environment. Nearly 200 of the people were aged between 20 and 40 years of age but 10 Clare people in their 60s were made homeless last year as-well-as 19 teenagers.

Josie O’Brien of the HELP homeless organisation in Ennis has seen a large increase in the number of people going without food in Clare over the last 12 months.

She is currently providing food each week for two familes in the Ennis area, including a seven month old baby and a newborn infant.

“HELP has been feeding a little baby and his mother since October. Over the past few weeks I have also been bringing food to another Ennis based family with four children, including a newborn infant,” she said.

“The people of Clare have been so generous. I put a request for food up on our facebook page and invariable someone always comes up with the goods. They are in a desperate situation, I went out to them [the family with four children] yesterday and they had nothing in the fridge but butter. We went out with a load of food that a woman in Miltown donated but other than that they had nothing.”

According to Orla Ní Eile, of the Clare Immigrant Support Centre, legal and illegal immigrant in Clare and their Irish-born children are currently falling through the cracks and not receiving any support from the authorities.

“People are going hungry in Clare each week. It is sad to say it but it is the truth,” she said.

“A lot of these people are returning Irish nationals or foreign workers, who were working legally in Clare but they discover, when they lose their job, that their employer has not been paying tax for them.

“Without a record or paying tax it is almost impossible for them to get any assistance from the state.

“There are dozen of families going without basic food in Clare each week and the situation is getting worse.”

For more information on HELP, search for ‘help the homeless in Clare’ on Facebook.

A CHURCH and a primary school in North Clare were broken into last week as criminal activity in county reaches a new low.

Gardaí are investigating the theft of eleven laptop computers and a number of other pieces of electrical equipment from New Quay National School while Gardaí in Ennistymon are also investigating the theft of two collection boxes from Kilfenora Church.

The New Quay school break-in took place some time between 10pm last Wednesday night, March 6, and 9am on Thursday morning. The thieves gained access to the school’s computer room by forcing open a back window.

Gardaí are investigating after thousands of euro worth of equipment were stolen from a school in North Clare. Eleven Toshiba laptops were taken along with, a white camcorder, two Fuji digital cameras, a black Nikon camera and a small amount of cash. Clare’s Crime Prevention Officer, Joe Downey, has asked that anyone with information on the stolen equipment or those responsible are urged to contact Ennistymon Gardaí on 7072180.

Two black collection boxes were also stolen from the church in Kilfenora last week. The theft took place between 9am on Saturday, March 2, and 7pm that evening.

Clare Gardaí are also looking for information from the public on a number of burglaries which have taken place recently. Between 1pm on March 3 and noon on March 5 a house at Islandmore Farm in Flagmount was broken into with 17 brass rods taken.

A house in Tullyglass in Shannon was ransacked at some time between February 20 and February 26 while the occupants were away on holiday. Nothing was stolen from the house during this incident.

A burglary also took place in a house in Gort na Blath in Ennis at some time between 11.15am and 9.30pm on Friday, March 8. A small amount of money was taken. There was also a burglary in the Willowgrove in Ennis on the same day – at some time between 8.50am and 11.30pm. Anyone with information about any of these crimes is asked to contact their local Garda Station.

THERE are serious anomalies between the value the Revenue Commissioners is placing on Clare properties and their market value.

That is according to Diarmuid McMahon of Sherry FitzGerald Ennis who said it is using wide brush strokes to value houses, which make little of no sense in reality.

He explained that the Revenue is valuing all semi-detached properties in an area in the same price range irrespective of size.

Likewise detached modest rural family homes are being placed in the same price category as large houses or mansions.

The Ennis estate agent warned the onus is on the homeowner however to ensure that the value price is correct, even if the State under values it. The owner is liable for any underpayment of the new tax.

The Revenue Commissioners launched its website to help home owners to calculate how much they will have to pay in property tax from the second half of this year.

A letter indicating the same is expected in the coming days.

Meanwhile the property tax is prompting a director of a Clare based voluntary housing scheme to resign.

The inclusion of voluntary housing along with private landlords and local authorities as being liable for Property Tax (on family housing) has precipitated a crisis for Rural Resettlement Ireland, according to its chairman Jim Connolly.

“The Government has radically moved the goalposts. Neither I nor any other director over the years signed up to become tax collectors. The onerous responsibilities of being directors of charitable Companies Limited by Guarantee under the Companies Act make it almost impossible nowadays to recruit new directors. The latest addition of shouldering the responsibility for paying property tax on large numbers of social houses is the last straw,” he said.

“I have publicly declared my intention of resigning as a director of RRI if the situation described above is confirmed in the Finance Act. I cannot speak for other directors or other Voluntary Housing associations.”

DOOLIN is set to become the centre of the Clare construction industry over the next two years as more than 100 jobs set to be created on two long-awaited projects on Doolin Pier.

As the Office of Public Works (OPW) prepare to start the tender process for the new Irish Coastguard Rescue Centre next week, an Bord Pleanála also gave the green light for the € 6 million Doolin Pier.

Construction work on both projects is likely to begin later this year with the rescue centre set to be completed by 2014 and and Doolin Pier expected to be operation for the beginning of the 2015 tourist season.

As well as pumping millions into the local economy during construction, the development of the completed pier is expected to drastically change the tourism industry in North Clare – making Doolin a major access point for the 70,000 plus tourists who travel to the Aran Islands each year.

“Clare County Council has invested considerable time and resources into ensuring that the Doolin Pier project is one that benefits all users of the existing pier. Once completed, this project will have significant, positive economic and social consequences for the people of North Clare and the wider region,” said county manager Tom Coughlan.

The Doolin Pier itself is expected to create more then 100 jobs locally, in the local tourism sector, once completed.

“It is regretable that this has taken as long as this to be decided upon. It is unfortuante that a project that was granted public funding around five years ago has had to wait until now to get the final go ahead, despite extensive public consultation,” said North Clare Senator, Martin Conway (FG).

“I am looking forward now to the construction of a new pier in Doolin which is going to create the bones of 100 jobs in the tourism industry – directly and indirectly.”

The pier was also welcomed be a large number of Clare politicians including Labour TD Michael McNamara, Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy and Mayor of Clare Pat Daly (FF).

AN 11-YEAR wait for dermatology services in the mid-west region is to be a thing of the past, according to the HSE, as it begins a major drive to eliminate waiting lists.

Health authorities say they hope that, by next November, no patient will be waiting longer than 12 months for an outpatient appointment.

The longest individual wait for dermatology services in the mid-west area, which includes Clare, went back to 2002, but this case was minor and has since been resolved, according to a HSE spokesperson.

Extra clinics are now being provided in Ennis, Limerick and Nenagh to eliminate the 1, 500 patients currently on the list.

A validation exercise was recently carried out to establish the real numbers of those actually requiring an appointment and it was found that just 386 patients out of the 1,767 were waiting less than one year.

Medicine Directorate manager for the Mid Western Hospitals Group, Paula Cussen Murphy said, “The people of the mid-west are very fortunate to have secured two additional consultant dermatologists in the last while. The dermatology service is now being developed to provide a range of services across the region.”

Consultant dermatologist, Dr Bart Ramsey said, “Real progress has and is being made. There is a need to expand the dermatology nursing services to enable more patients to be seen and treated.

“An expanded dedicated space for dermatology is in building development. This will give us much needed physical space to see and treat more patients,” he added.