Category: News

NONE of Clare’s Government TDs were in attendance last night for an “emergency” meeting of Clare County Council to discuss the proposed transfer of water services from Clare County Council to the new Water Ireland organisation.

Michael McNamara (LAB) and Fine Gael Deputy’s Joe Carey and Pat Breen each sent letters of apology for not attending the meeting. Only Deputy Timmy Dooley (FF) and Senator Martin Conway (FG) attended the meeting, while Senator Tony Mulcahy was en route to the meeting but was forced to turn back because of an urgent family emergency.

The three Government TDs were heavily criticised by some members of Clare County Council, with some members suggesting that the meeting be suspended to accommodate the attendance of the Government TDs.

“This is not good enough. We have an opposition TD and a member of the second house. I commend them for coming today but what are they going to be able to do wfor us? This is a fruitless exercise to continue with this without the Government TDs. I welcome Deputy Dooley and Senator Martin Conway on being here but, in truth, it is not good enough,” said Ennis Green Party Cllr Brian Meaney (GP).

The local authority went ahead with the meeting, despite the absence of the Government TDs but have decided to reconvene a similar meeting before an upcoming council meeting.

Shannon Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) described the move to establish Water Ireland as privitisation by the back door. “This will do nothing to improve the water quality n this county. This is privitisation by any other word and the public will be thrown to the wolves. The best that Clare County Council can hope for out of this is limited agency work and the current staff will be thrown on the scrap heap. I say shame on Fine Gael and Labour,” he said.

Senator Martin Conway (FG) said that it would be “wrong and foolish” to discard the wealth of knowledge that exists within local authorities but Deputy Timmy Dooley (FF) said that the proposal in its current form would cost almost 4,000 jobs.

“I am concerned about the threat to the jobs of thousands of local authority workers. My understanding is that this will affect something like 3,600 workers across the county and, if this project is brought forward using the framework that is currently in place, then these jobs are at risk,” said Deputy Dooley.

EAST Clare farmers and landowners, whose land will be subject to Compulsory Purchase Orders to facilitate the construction of the longawaited Killaloe Bypass, received letters from Clare County Council last week informing them which parts of their land will be affected.

The Killaloe Bypass has been identified as a Strategic Infrastructure Development, which means that planning for the development does not need to go through the local planning process with Clare County Council but instead go straight to An Bord Pleanála. Clare County Council last week lodged two documents with An Bord Pleanála, in relation to the Compulsory Purchase Orders and the Environment Impact Statement for the project.

“Any submission made to An Bord Pleanála will be very carefully considered. Ultimately, it is Clare County Council’s objective to achieve development of a high-quality road scheme in a manner that will address any concerns they may have as effectively as possible,” said Barry Keating from the Transportation Sector of Clare County Council.

“It will not be possible for Clare County Council or Roughan and O’Donovan, Consulting Engineers, to engage with the public in respect of this project during the course of the presently ongoing formal public consultation process. This is to ensure that everyone affected by the project is treated equitably and to protect the integrity of the process.”

The public consultation process finishes on March 30 of this year after which time An Bord Pleanála will make the final judgement on the future development of the bypass.

“It is most important that the views and concerns of all landowners in relation to the proposed road scheme are submitted in writing to An Bord Pleanála in the manner outlined in the correspondence they would have received recently by the specified closing date,” continued Mr Keating.

“Each individual landowner and occupier affected by the scheme received a letter and a map and schedule dated Monday, February 6, indicating the portion of their land and property associated with the aforementioned CPO.”

Further correspondence clarifying Clare County Council’s role during the current statutory public consultation process was issued on Tuesday, February 14.

Information on the Killaloe Bypass, including the Environmental Impact Statement and Natural Impact Statement, are currently available to to be viewed at www.clarecoco.ie.

THE Mayor of Clare yesterday hit out at critical comments made by a senior councillor towards the County Manager.

Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) told Cllr James Breen (Ind) that he was “disappointed with your comments on a personal level” after the former Dáil TD had expressed criticism of Tom Coughlan’s work as County Manager.

Mr Coughlan was moved to defend himself against comments made by Cllr Breen at yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council.

Mr Coughlan said, “I am doing my job and I am doing it the best I can.”

The comments were sparked by a motion tabled by Cllr Breen seeking a written report from the council containing information on how many contractors were employed by the council in 2011 to do work that was heretofore done by council staff; the entire cost of the contracts; the name, amount and type of works undertaken.

Cllr Breen also asked if this would be a normal feature of council operations in 2012.

Pointing to what he said was a lack of information in the council’s response, Cllr Breen called on the manager to provide a “factual and straight” answer to his queries.

Mr Coughlan said Cllr Breen had requested a great deal of complex information that could not be collected simply by “pressing a button”. He said staff had been removed from “productive” duties to address Cllr Breen’s motion.

Mr Coughlan said that while Cllr Breen is entitled to the information, he had to make the best decision on how to allocate scarce resources.

Mr Coughlan said, “I can’t give it (information) at the moment because I don’t have the staff to deal with Cllr Breen’s enquiries.”

Cllr Breen said he failed to understand how a group of people would be required to collect financial data. “The information should be available to one man at his fingertips,” he said.

Mr Coughlan said 167 people at the council were authorised to deal with contracts and it would be impractical to have one person do the job.

In response to a comment about his work as County Manager, Mr Coughlan said, “I think the way you are treating me at the moment is really unfair.” Cllr Breen said he was entitled to his opinion.

In her reply, Nora Kaye, Acting Director of Service, gave details of surface dressing contracts engaged in by the council’s transportation department.

She explained that in 2011, the council engaged in two separate surface dressing contractors in the Shannon Electoral Area and Killaloe Electoral Area.

Ms Kaye continued, “The total cost of outsourcing this particular body of work was € 78,000 in 2011. In relation to the hiring of contractors for 2012, no decision has yet been taken with regard to same – however, it is likely that due to depleting staff resources, some works will require to be outsourced during 2012.”

Ms Kaye said contractors had been hired to carry out maintenance works in the Environment and Water Services Directorate.

Ms Kaye told the meeting that there was no intention whatsoever to withhold information from elected members.

COUNTY councillors from Limerick City, Limerick County and Tipperary may look to have a position on the board of the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) if it is decoupled from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) later this year.

With details of the Booz Report into the future of Shannon Airport yet to be officially made public, it is widely expected that some Clare organisations will be given a role to play in planning the future of the airport.

Last year, Clare County Council made a submission to the Booz Re port suggesting a role for the local authority on the board of the future Shannon Airport Authority.

Given the central role that the airport has in future plans for the region, as set out in the Mid West Regional Authority Factfile which was published in Ennistymon last Friday, it is also now likely that representatives from Limerick and Tipperary may also look for a place on the board.

“Shannon Airport is the single most important piece of transport infrastructure that we have in this region. Everyone has a stake in it and everyone, whether they be from Limerick, Clare or Tipperary, would be concerned about the declining passenger numbers,” said Limerick City Councillor, Joe Leddin (LAB).

“There are challenges there but there are opportunities as well. If the motorway to Galway was completed, you would have a motorway linking Shannon to Galway and, with the subsidies ended for Galway Airport, I think that people in that area will consider using Shannon instead of Dublin or Galway airports.

“I wouldn’t get too hung up on who should or should not be on the new board, the Minister for Transport will decide that. My focus as chairman of the Mid West Regional Authority is to take a more macro approach to this because the airport does affect the entire region.

“I say, put the best calibre of people on that board and let them drive it. It is about driving the airport for the region and, as long as that is the approach taken by the new board, I don’t care who will sit on it.

“I also believe that it must be separated from the DAA debt-free. For any new board to go in there and take that airport by the scruff of the neck, ad drive it both in terms of domestic traffic and tourism and trade, they need to go into this debt-free. It has to be written off or at least written down.”

THE priest in one North Clare community last Sunday asked for prayers from the pulpit to protect the local primary school. That is according to Tubber-based county councillor, Michael Kelly (FF), who raised the matter of the threatened closure of a number of rural schools at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council.

While Cllr Kelly declined to identify the school mentioned or the priest who made the appeal, he did confirm that it was a school in the North Clare area.

“I had occasion over the weekend to listen to a parish priest ask the local people of the parish to pray that their school will be left open,” said Cllr Kelly.

“There is no good talking about this years and years down the line when these school are shut and people start coming back to some of these regional areas.”

According to East Clare councillor and school teacher Cathal Crowe (FF), the closure of rural schools will not save any money for the exchequer.

“When a school closes, the school principal of the closed school will continue to be paid a principle’s wage. The same amount of teachers will still have to be employed so the saving will be just be made on the building itself, which will be minimal,” said Cllr Crowe.

“We need our TDs to represent us on this. We don’t need them to be out there putting out soundbites and getting kicked out of the Dáil.”

It was also revealed at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council that at least one West Clare primary school will be remaining open, thanks to the efforts of Rural Resettlement Ireland.

West Clare Councillor Oliver Garry (FG) confirmed that Tullycrine National School has recently gained eight new students from three new families who have moved to the area as a result of the efforts of Rural Resettlement Ireland.

“It is the first thing that people look for when they are moving into an area. If the school is removed, then it is like removing the heart and soul of the community,” said Cllr Garry.

“Thanks to the great work of Jim Connolly and Rural Resettlement Ireland, there has been a major development for Tullycrine National School and three new families coming to the area have secured the future of that school.”

SOCIAL housing needs in Clare is at its highest level on record and almost twice what it was just four years ago according to figures compiled in the Mid-West Regional Authority (MWRA) Factfile, which was published in Ennistymon on Friday.

According to the report, there was 1,383 people in need of social housing in Clare last year. This compares to 796 in 2008, representing a 73.7 per cent jump in just three years.

Indeed the social housing list in the county is more than 400 per cent greater than it was at the end of the last recession in Ireland in 1993.

Despite the need for social housing in Clare, the county also possesses more vacant dwellings than at any other time in the history of the state.

According to the MWRA, there were 11,892 dwellings vacant in the county in 2011.

The number of vacant dwellings has increase by 21.3 per cent in the five years between 2006 and 2011. With Clare’s overall housing stock rising from 48,834 in 2006 to 55,826 in 2011 this means that one in every five houses in Clare are currently vacant.

Indeed, according to the report, Clare has one of the highest rates of vacant houses in Ireland with only six counties having a higher vacancy rate.

The MWRA includes Clare County Council, Limerick City and County Councils and South Tipperary County Council.

The factfile highlighted a number of issues, including maintaining employment and improving competitiveness as key steps forward for the mid-west region.

The report recommends a “sustainably increase” of the population in Shannon, as a gateway town and Ennis, as a hub town, in the immediate future.

“Population growth is crucial for attracting employment and improving infrastructure in the region. In order to maintain a high net disposable income level, the mid-west must continue to create highly skilled employment in areas such as ICT and med-technologies to counterbalance the high level of educational attainment in the region,” said a spokesperson.

“Reducing unemployment levels and preventing out migration are crucial to the region’s competitiveness and economy going forward. Key employment sectors require Governmental stimulus reshaping, particularly in the public sector.”

The report also calls for the completion of the Atlantic gateway corridor linking the M18 at Gort to the M6 Galway to Dublin motorway.

A 19-YEAR-OLD “troubled young man” has been told to pay compensation to the owners of two damaged cars or face jail.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy issued the warning at Ennis District Court on Wednesday at the case of William Casey.

Casey, (19) with an address at O’Briensbridge, pleaded guilty to causing € 700 worth of damage to a car at the Oakwood Arms, Shannon, on May 19, 2011.

He also pleaded guilty to stealing a radio and causing damage to a car at Air Atlanta, Shannon Industrial Estate on June 6, 2011.

Casey also appeared in court charged with committing a series of “drive-offs” at petrol stations in Bunratty and Shannon in March and April last year.

Casey was charged with dishonestly making off without paying for petrol having obtained petrol at Bunratty Station (15/3/11 and 11/4/11) and Topaz Petrol Station, Bothar Mor, Shannon (7/3/11 and 10/4/11).

According to court documents, the total value of the petrol obtained in the four incidents came to € 199. The court heard that Casey had repaid money to both garages in respect of the drive-offs. Solicitor Daragh Hassett told the court that his client is a “troubled young man” who lost both his parents at an early age. He said Casey is now living with two very loyal and loving foster parents. He said his client had committed the offences to earn “kudos” from a group of older, negative influences.

Mr Hassett said the drive-offs had been carried out with no level of sophistication and had been done to impress an older group of people. He told the court that his client is currently taking a number of courses, including stone carving and glass making. He added that Casey had achieved a black belt in Taekwondo and has joined a boxing club in O’Briensbridge. He said his client had started to save money to repay the car owners.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy ordered that Casey pay compensation totaling € 900 arising out of the damage caused to the two cars.

He said, “I’m giving him one month and if he hasn’t paid the full amount, he’s going to prison.”

He remanded Casey on continuing bail to appear again at Ennis District Court on March 28 for payment of compensation.

KILLALOE has received a huge boost in the past week with news that Clare County Council has given the green light for the development of a major sports facilities project for the East Clare town.

Conditional planning permission has been granted to the Ballina/Killaloe Sports and Community Facilities Development Company for a major development that is set to begin later this year, provided there are no hold ups due to any appeal at An Bord Pleanala level.

The alliance between communities in Clare and Tipperary is behind the development of two new full-size playing pitches, an all-weather pitch, floodlit training areas, walking and cycling trails, changing and carparking facilities at a site in Moys, Killaloe.

The planning application for the development was lodged on June 15 last and an original deadline of November 9 last year was set for a final decision date on the proposal.

However, the decision was delayed on foot of a request from the planning authority for further information, which was duly submitted by the applicants on December 22 last.

Planning permission was granted last week, with the final judgment saying that “having regard to the nature and scale of the proposed development, the existing use of the lands that the proposed development would not seriously injure the amenities of the area or of property in the vicinity” and would “accord with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area”.

Commenting on the planning decision, a spokesperson for the Ballina/ Killaloe Sports and Community Facilities Development Company told The Clare People the positive planning decision “is great news for sport and leisure facilities in Killaloe”.

“This is a major development for the Killaloe and Ballina areas and we are looking forward to progressing the project in the next couple of months,” the spokesperson added.

SIX of Clare’s fifteen wastewater treatment do not meet the standards as set out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Treatment centres at Quin, Ennis South, Lahinch, Ennistymon, Tulla and Shannon town each failed waste water treatment standards according to the latest figures released to The Clare People by the EPA.

Test carried out at treatment centres in Quin and Shannon showed a particularly high instances Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) – which is one of the key indicators of pollution being present in the treated water.

Of the 10 tests carried out in Quin, eight showed a BOD level above the dangerous level of 25mg per litre with four of these having a BOD level higher than 50mg per litre.

Of the 13 tests carried out in Shannon town, 10 were shown to have a BOD level above 25mg per litre with six recording levels above 50mg per litre.

Responding to the findings the EPA’s programme manager in the Office of Environmental Enforcement, Gerald O’Leary, described the result “poor”.

“This level of performance is poor and needs to improve.

“In order to meet EU targets, further investment in infrastructure is required and we need a step change in the operation and maintenance of these valuable assets.”

The report measures the effectiveness of Clare treatment plants and does not draw conclusion as to how this performance might effect the quality of Clare’s drinking water.

The results are the latest to be made public by the EPA and relate to the 12 months of 2009.

These figures are released on a staggered basis by the environmental organisation so changes in the effectiveness of the facilities mentioned may have taken place during that time.

Commenting on the report, Dara Lynott, EPA’s Director of the Office of Environmental Enforcement, said that a large amount of government money will be required to resolve the situation.

“Meeting our EU targets will require substantial and sustained investment.

“However, the benefits of such investment extend beyond water quality, as clean water is a pre-requisite for our tourism, food, agriculture and manufacturing industries,” he said. The Clare People contacted Clare County Council in relation to this story but no response was received at the time of going to press.

THE visit of Chinese vice-president, Mr Xi Jingping to Clare on Saturday and Sunday can have huge spin-off effects for the Shannon region in terms of trade and tourism, the chief executive of Shannon Development has claimed this week.

Dr Vincent Cunnane made his comments after being part of the delegation that welcomed Mr Xi to Shannon on Saturday and after playing host to the vice-president and his entourage at a Bunratty Castle banquet.

“Shannon Development has long established links with China dating back to the 1980s.

“We were honoured to be invited to brief the Chinese Vice President during his visit to Ireland,” said Dr Cunnane.

He pointed out that the objective in briefing Mr Xi was to “to create the environment to enhance good relations between Irish and Chinese businesses” and to educate the Chinese delegation “on all aspects of Shannon Development’s regional economic development remit and particularly on activities at Shannon Free Zone”.

“The linkages between Shannon Development and China began in 1980 with the visit of Mr Jiang Zemin, who was then Senior Vice Minister of State Imports and Exports Administration, and later became President of China,” continued Dr Cunnane. “Mr Jiang led a Chinese Govern- ment delegation to Shannon to study the Shannon Free Zone and the Shannon Development ‘model’ of a regional development company. “The knowledge gained by the Chinese delegation was subsequently used by the Chinese authorities in the development of their very successful Special Economic Zones.” “Mr Jiang Zemin’s visit to Shannon was the beginning of a steady stream of visits which saw two Chinese Pre- miers, and many Chinese Government delegations, come to hear the Shannon Development experience, initially focusing on the Shannon Free Zone and Shannon Development itself, but latterly focusing on our work in regional economic development.

“China has a population of over 1.3 billion, which represents 20 per cent of the world’s population.

“The fact that the Chinese Vice President spent almost three days in Ireland is a major boost,” added Dr. Cunnane.

In highlighting the tourism benefits attached to Mr Xi’s stay in Clare, Dr Cunnane said “the visit to Bunratty Castle and indeed the Cliffs of Mo her will have an enormous impact on Ireland’s tourism promotional efforts in China.

“We are delighted to work with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and our Government colleagues to ensure the success of the visit and to raise Ireland’s tourism and business profile in China,” he added.