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THE Government has reneged on a promise to return almost quarter of a million euro to the people of Clare if they increased their payment of the controversial household charge.

The fall out has placed the county’s two Fine Gael TDs in the eye of a storm as they delivered the message from Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan just over a month ago that the cut to the county council’s Local Government Fund was a temporary measure.

In his address to councillors last August, Deputy Pat Breen (FG) said the loss of € 243,000 from the third quarter of the funding allocation would be returned to the council’s coffers.

“You will get back what is owed to you before the need of the year. I don’t think the council should worry about that,” he said.

His colleague Deputy Joe Carey said, “The money is not being cut. It is being withheld.”

“We don’t have to face the cuts if we get the allocation up to 70 to 75 per cent. I got that assurance from Phil Hogan,” he added.

On Friday the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government confirmed the money would not be paid back to Clare County Council under any circumstances but as the county surpassed a 65 per cent payment rate it would not be further penalised during the last quarter of the year.

Deputy Carey told The Cla re People yesterday (Monday) that while the reduction is “disappointing” the overall allocation was € 10.8 million. “The reduction is two and a half per cent within the budget,” he said.

He added that reassurances given to the council by him and his colleagues was done in “good faith”.

“Notwithstanding that, at that meeting I said if Clare County Council got up to 75 per cent there would be a reimbursement, it is still only in the high 60s,” he said.

Since then he said the budgetary situation had changed.

Deputy Breen said he was disappointed, frustrated and angry.

“I am disappointed with the fact he assured us funding would be there and then I got informed that the department cannot deliver on promise,” he said.

He added that he “always tells the truth” and the information was given in “good faith”.

“The return of the household charge is not as good as it should be,” he added which impacted on the loss of the funding.

Asked if his relationship with Minister Hogan was now strained, he said he had a good relationship with all ministers and this was not a personal decision by the minister.

He added however, “I am going to have strong words with Minister Hogan.”

CYBER-bullying is more common in rural areas of North Clare than in Dublin City, according to digital media expert Brendan Smith.

The proliferation of online- or cyber-bullying in rural Clare is also a contributing factor in the rise of youth suicides in the county.

Mr Smith, who is the outreach education officer at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute at NUI, Galway, will address groups of parents in Ennistymon next week to educate them of the warning signs for cyberbullying.

He also says that high-profile cases, such as the tragic death of Fanore teenager Phoebe Prince, demonstrate just how serious cyber-bullying is for young Clare people.

“This is a hidden world for a lot of parents who are not familiar with Facebook and other social networks. Children in rural areas are being harassed more than ever before. Before, the bullying would stop at school or on the street; now it can follow them into their homes,” he said.

“The home used to be a sanctuary but that is no longer the case. The bullying can take place right in the bedroom if they have a laptop or a smartphone.

“We have been talking to guards and they say that this is now a bigger problem in rural areas than in cities. If you live in North Clare, there is a much bigger chance that you talk to your friends online rather than meeting up with them, as people can do in the cities,” continued Brendan.

“Phoebe Prince is one of the most famous incidents of cyber-bullying but, trust me, every village and every townland in Clare has some form of cyber-bullying going on. It is difficult to say exactly what the level is but I have never come across an area where it wasn’t a problem.”

Brendan is one of a number of speakers who will address teachers and parents at the North West Clare Family Resource Centre in the coming weeks. There will also be free talks about teen mental health, teen use of drugs and alcohol and teen choices – which is about encouraging teens to make positive choices for themselves.

Each talk is free and will take place at two different times, to allow as many parents as possible to attend. For more information, including the exact times of all the talks, contact Barbara Ó Conchúir, Community Development Worker with the North West Clare Family Resource Centre on 065 7071144 or email info@northwestclarefrc.ie.

SERVICES will be cut in the county to cover the € 240,000 withdrawn from the council coffers by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

Last August, council members agreed to continue with services as planned under the budget adopted at the beginning of the year, on re- assurances from the county’s Fine Gael Oireachtais members that the money cut from the third quarter of the budget would be returned.

Now the council must take an axe to services during the last three months of the year to make up the unplanned shortfall.

The county’s councillors were angered on Friday when it was announced that the money would not be returned as promised.

Instead it must face a meeting on Monday where it will be asked to consider cutting certain vital services in order to balance the books.

Former mayor of Clare Tommy Brennan (Ind) proposed last August to go ahead with the budget as planned given the reassurance from the Government members present, and this week he was angry at the u-turn.

“I am calling on them [TDs] to see the Minister and return the money to Clare County Council. A lot of services will be cut back otherwise,” he said.

Mayor of Clare Pat Daly (FF) described the minister’s decision as “totally wrong”.

“The council is living on the edge at the moment.

“The last thing we need to do it cut services and there is a real danger that this could happen.”

He added that there was a real danger that those that did not pay will not pay the household charge now.

“Two thirds of people have paid the charge and they are being penalised by this man,” he added referring to the minister.

“He has let down his Fine Gael colleagues, especially Pat Breen and Joe Carey in a big way.”

Fine Gael councillor Joe Cooney was equally incensed by the decision.

Describing it as “desperate” and “unbelievable”, he fears for the future of essential public services.

“My belief is that minor and local roads are going to suffer, and we are asking people on those roads to pay taxes and household charges,” the councillor added.

Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said he was concerned that there was “now no incentive on Clare County Council, Clare county councillors or the householders of Clare to contribute to the charge.”

A REPORT that found litter problems at a secondary school in Ennis has been criticized as “ridiculous”. Ennis Community College received a Grade C in the latest report from Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL).

According to the report, “A wide variety of litter was present at this site, particularly over the stone wall. As well as being littered the overall impression was of a poorly maintained environment. It is quite unu- sual to have schools score so poorly in the IBAL Anti-Litter survey.”

The IBAL report was raised at the September meeting of Clare VEC by committee chairman, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind).

CEO George O’Callaghan said he understood that the survey was conducted at a time when works, including tree felling, were underway at the college. Cllr Peter Considine (FF) described IBAL’s remarks on the school as “ridiculous comment”.

Committee members Michael Cor- ley said there was a lot of disappointment that the school had been mentioned in the IBAL report.

Clare VEC is to write to Ennis Town Council about the report.

IBAL also identified a litter problem at Ennis bus and rail station.

Staff at the school were shocked at the report’s findings. Speaking at the time, school principal John Cooke said he would like to know when the inspectors visited the school and the criteria used by An Táisce.

He added, “Generally the school is kept very well and litter free, as much as is possible. The students don’t litter. In the school we train and educate them not to litter…As for the litter problem, I can’t understand where they are coming from.”

Ennis has held onto its ‘Clean to European Norms’ status in the IBAL survey, despite dropping 15 places to 31st, among 42 towns surveyed.

There were just five top ranking sites out of a total of ten surveyed in Ennis – combined with two seriously littered sites, this puts Ennis in the bottom third of the towns / cities surveyed.

Speaking last month following the release of the survey, town manager Ger Dollard admitted that Ennis Town Council are often “baffled” by IBAL’s findings. He said that Ennis is regarded as a clean town.

Last month Ennis was named Ireland’s tidiest large urban centre at the annual Tidy Town awards. It’s the fourth time that Ennis has scooped the prize, having won the award in 2006, 2008 and 2009.

THE current chief executive officer of County Limerick VEC will head up the new board that will take over the functions of Clare VEC.

Sean Burke has been named as CEO Designate of the new Education and Training Board for Clare and Limerick.

The new board will be an amalgamation of VECs in Clare, Limerick city and Limerick County.

The September meeting of Clare VEC heard that that the new Education and Training Boards (ETB) would be established in the early part of 2013.

The current CEO of Clare VEC, George O’Callaghan has been named CEO Designate of the new city of Cork and Cork county ETB.

Mr O’Callaghan, who has worked as CEO for seven years, said he is looking forward to his new role in Cork.

He said, “It will be a challenge. There will be a lot of work involved, amalgamating the new VECs, they are two fairly large VECs. It’s not going to happen for another six to eight months at the earliest so I’ll still be in Clare for that length of time.”

Mr O’Callaghan said he enjoyed his time working in Clare.

“It was fantastic. The staff are fantastic and the people here are great to work with. The committee have always given me great co-operation down the years.”

Implementing the 2001 Vocational Education Act, the growth in adult education and improvements to school facilities, are among the main changes Mr O’Callaghan has helped oversee during his time with Clare VEC.

He said, “All the schools have very modern facilities. That was part of our objective as well. We were very anxious to get that up and running and I’m very happy that we have got that done. We have achieved three major extensions for three of the schools in the county as well.”

Mr O’Callaghan will be leaving Clare VEC as it prepares to undergo major structural change. He believes the county will have a strong influ- ence on the new ETB.

He said, “The challenge for Clare will be to maintain what it has got. It’ll be a large part of the new entity as well. There are 110,000 people living in Clare. There are over 2,300 post primary school pupils in the VEC here and we have something like 4,000 to 5,000 adults here as well. It will make up quite a large part of the new entity as well. So it will have quite a large influence on the new entity as well.”

MEMBERS of the Fine Gael party in Clare are to tell the Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan that a carrot rather and stick will reap more rewards in the county when it comes to collecting the household charge.

The loss of almost a quarter of a million euro of council funding last month will not be returned to Clare County Council, despite reassurances from the Minister through the two local Fine Gael TDs that all funding would be paid if a certain threshold was met.

On Saturday, Fine Gael councillors and Oireachtais members met and discussed the announcement following Friday’s developments.

It was agreed that there was little incentive left for the collection of the charge if the council and its public services were to be penalised regardless.

In a statement after the meeting the party in Clare said’

“There is a € 1.5 million shortfall in the household charge collection in Clare from 15,000 households who have failed to pay the legally due charge brought about by the collapse of the economy.”

It said the issue of the refunding of the € 240,000 from the third quarter payments from Government was discussed on the agenda.

“There is a Clare Fine Gael proposal being put by the Oireachtas members to the Minister for his urgent consideration to enable the refund that € 240,000.

“The proposal seeks the refund if a significant further improvement of payment rate is achieved in Clare over the next number of weeks.

“Essential council services need to be funded and unless we all contribute and pay we will fail to improve our collection rate,” it stated.

As the Fine Gael members prepare to meet with the Minister for Environment Phil Hogan on Saturday next at a party fundraising dinner, many admit privately that he has lost credibility with them.

This means any reassurances they might receive will be coated in more salt than the € 100 a plate dinner.

THE latest statistical report taken from the 2011 National Census of Population has revealed that divorce is on the rise in Clare, with a record number of divorced people now living in the county since the measure was introduced to the statute books in 1996.

The census returns have shown that there are now 2,252 divorcees living in the county, with the divorces figures on the rise in keeping with the nationwide 800 per cent increase in the numbers of divorces between 1996 and 2011.

Of this 2,252, women are in the majority, with 1,280 female divorcees living in the county as compared to 972 men.

And, from the overall figure there is almost an equal divided between urban and rural, with 1,110 of divorcees living in urban areas as compared to 1,142 in rural areas.

In August it was revealed that despite the cost of divorce thought to be a deterrent in most parts of Ireland, Clare saw a rise of 40 per cent in the number of couples getting divorced in the county in 2011.

According to the figures for the county released by the Central Statistic Office, 69 divorces were granted to Clare couples last year – with a further 66 applications for divorce being made.

Experienced Clare-based family law solicitor Marie Keane said the rise could be attributed to the type of divorces being negotiated as well as the age profile of couples getting divorced.

“The vast majority of divorce cases are now being settled before going to court, with both parties consenting. From my experience I would guess up to 95 per cent of cases settle in this manner,” she told The Clare People .

Meanwhile, other census figures show that 1,375 divorcees in Clare have remarried – the breakdown of the figures being 776 men as against 629 women.

In addition to this, there are now 1,577 separated women living in the county as compared to 1,294 men.

AN elderly woman is recovering today after a fall at Doolin Pier on Saturday in which she sustained hip and head injuries. The woman slipped and fell at the water’s edge but she was brought to safety before she entered the water.

The Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard was alerted to the incident by one of the local ferry operators and were on the scene within minutes. The woman was given medical attention at the water’s edge before she was moved to a more secure location by stretcher.

The casualty complained of severe pain to her left hip and had a cut and swelling to her forehead. The woman was brought to Limerick Regional Hospital for further treatment.

Meanwhile, rescue services on Lough Derg took part in 25 different rescue operations on the lake this summer.

Figures released last week show that the Lough Derg RNLI launches nine times during the summer months, while the Killaloe Unit of the Irish Coastguard took part in 14 rescue operations since the beginning of June.

Among the call-outs responded to by the Lough Derg RNLI was a request to assist 15 people on-board a cruiser that had grounded by Cormorant Island, north of Illaunmore, some four nautical miles from Dromineer Bay.

The lifeboat also launched to investigate a vessel upturned in Youghal Bay, close to Garrykennedy, and on another occasion launched to assist four people after their cruiser grounded and they abandoned it to board a small tender.

THE Merriman Hotel in Kinvara is going on auction again this week, with the guide price set at just € 400,000, or € 12, 500 per bedroom.

The 32-bedroom hotel, located in the very centre of Kinvara, was auctioned already this year but that deal was not brought to completion.

On that occasion, the hotel was sold to the highest bidder for a price of € 610,000 and it remains unclear whether it will reach those heights again.

Along with the 32 bedrooms, the hotel also boasts a bar with the capacity to seat 200 guests, a dining room with licence capacity for 100, a kitchen, study, entrance hall and private secure car parking.

During the property boom, a number of luxury six-bedroom houses in Kinvara sold for more than € 1 million, or roughly € 170,000 per bedroom.

If the Merriman reaches its previous auction price of € 610,000 from earlier this year, it will be sold for just over € 19,000 per bedroom.

The auction will take place on Friday, September 28 at 3pm at the Victoria Hotel in Galway unless it is previously sold.

The property is being brought to auction by O’Donnellan and Joyce Auctioneers.

Meanwhile, property prices continue to fall across Clare, according to the Myhome.ie price change index.

Of the 48 houses whose asking price changed in the county so far this September, 46 reported a reduction in the asking price.

The largest drop in asking price was for a large thatched property in Doolin whose asking price fell by € 150,000, from € 500,000 to € 350,000.

LABASHEEDA is a village on the Shannon estuary, an area of high environmental sensitivity, yet its people are asked to survive a recession, develop the area and care for the environment without any sewerage scheme.

And despite more than a half a century of promises from different governments and plans and funding being allocated by the second last Minister for the Environment, the plans have been cancelled and the money taken back.

This is of little surprise to the despondent local people, who have spent the last decade working with planners, the county council and government departments in developing the plan for the village.

Among those involved was local school principal, Liam Woulfe.

“I’m convinced that it was never a runner from day one, and the Department of the Environment were merely playing with figures and statistics just to show that a number of projects were being considered, to look good in Europe,” he said.

“They constantly changed the conditions relating to the type of system to be installed, and Clare County Council, in good faith, would have to go back to the drawing board. We were being regularly told that the money was ‘ringfenced’, a term I don’t want ever to hear in use again, it just seems to mean that the funding is never really there in the first place,” he added.

The “ringfenced” money for the Labasheeda and Carrigaholt Scheme has now disappeared and the goalposts have changed again, so much so that the council can no longer apply for a scheme for Labasheeda.

Sean Ward, Senior Engineer with Clare County Council told The Clare People , “The rules governing the 2011 Annual Review did not give us any leeway for re-submission of the Labasheeda element of the scheme.”

“As neither of the two villages (Carrigaholt or Labasheeda) was included in the new WSIP, the budget allocated in 2008 is no longer available. Clare County Council was reim- bursed by the department for the design and other planning costs, which it had incurred up to the time the scheme was dropped from the Water Services Investment Programme (WSIP),” he said.

The engineer was not confident of a resolution to the situation anytime soon.

“Unless and until the scheme can be reconsidered as part of any 2014onwards WSIP, it isn’t possible to say if and when a sewerage scheme can be built in either Carrigaholt or Labasheeda,” he said.