Category: News

KILRUSH Town Council are set to press ahead with developing the € 1.3m sports facility earmarked for the Cooraclare Road in the West Clare capital – whether they get government funding for the ambitious project or not.

That was the message delivered at the January meeting of the local authority in Kilrush Town Hall on Thursday night last as councillors gave their unanimous approval for a proposal to press ahead with the project regardless of whether the 90 per cent funding they missed out on in 2011 is forthcoming this year.

“If we don’t get the government funding, we should have an alternative plan that will kick in straight away,” said Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr Ian Lynch (FG) in kickstarting a move for work on the project to begin in 2011.

“The ten per cent that Clare County Council and Kilrush Town Council have to invest between them, we can match that with Leader funding to provided some of the facilities, not all of them, but some of them. That’s what we should do. If we don’t get the 90 per cent, we should go with the ten per cent and then get as much as we can from Leader,” Mayor Lynch added.

Last October the council made an application for funding from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport for the first phase of the integrated sports facility on lands owned by the ESB and Department of Education.

The first phase of the development will include an artificial surface facility, a full-size playing pitch and two full-size training pitches, fencing, lighting and associated works at the cost of € 500,000. The second phase of the project will include the development of dressing rooms, car parking, footpaths and associated works.

“The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has advised that it hopes to announce a Sports Capital Programme in the first quarter of 2012,” revealed town clerk John Corry.

“In anticipation of the announcement of a grant scheme in 2012, Kilrush Town Council together with Clare County Council will be in a position to make an early application for grant assistance and if approved, would be hopeful of receiving grant approval of 90 per cent of the cost of the scheme,” he added.

The matter was raised before the council by Cllr Liam Williams (FG), who called on the council to “prioritise the sports complex and make sure that funding is accessed for it”.

“It is a community effort,” responded town manager Nora Kaye. “It is a community project and if Kilrush Town Council is the vehicle through which we can make it happen, we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet and we will work hard to bring it about,” she added.

CLARE County Library have launched a new competition to highlight the crucial role played by family carers.

Following the success of last year’s poetry competition as part of a partnership involving Caring for Carers, Clare County Library and the Ennis Book Club Festival, a new nationwide poetry competition for 2012 has recently been launched.

The theme of this year’s competition is ‘Springtime’, which organisers hope will inspire the many family carers around the country to put pen to paper. Poems should be no longer than three verses and entries should be submitted by Friday, February 17, to Brigid Barron, Caring for Carers Ireland, National Office, 2 Carmody Street Business Park, Ennis. Email bbarron@caringforcarers.org.

The winner will receive a weekend stay for two in an Ennis Hotel during this year’s Ennis Book Club Festival, which takes place from March 2 to 4, with a weekend pass to all of the festival events. Four runners-up will receive two tickets to the Joseph Woods and Paula Meehan poetry event as well as two tickets to the Maureen Gaffney reading. Both of these events will take place at the Ennis Book Club Festival on Saturday, March 3. Further details on the festival are at www.ennisbookclubfestival.com.

Speaking at the launch, Helen Walsh, County Librarian, said “The library is delighted to be involved in this poetry competition. I see it as a very worthwhile community project. Caring for Carers carry out invaluable work throughout the country and the library has a particular interest in socially inclusive events such as this.”

According to Brigid Barron, Research and Program Manager with Caring for Carers Ireland, recognising the role of family carers in the home is crucial. She said, “This form of care is the foundation of formal health and social care systems. Family carers are a distinct group who provide care and also, very importantly, require care themselves. We hope they will get involved in this poetry competition and we greatly look forward to receiving their entries.”

THE success of the Moore Street regeneration project that was marked by a street party in December has spawned a new ‘Family Gathering’ festival that will take place in Kilrush next summer.

Details of staging a Moore Street Reunion in August, which could become an annual event were unveiled by Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF), who himself is a native of the what was once the main shopping street in the West Clare capital.

The idea emerged following the outstanding success of the Moore Street celebrations that took place on December 17 last in the wake of the upgrading work carried by the National Roads Authority (NRA).

“We came up with the idea of having a Moore Street Reunion of all the old families in August during the Inis Cathaigh music festival,” revealed Cllr Prendeville.

“We were talking about have a fes- tival, with an arts and culture element to it, with exhibitions and events and it and for this to particularly make use the Vandeleur Walled Garden. We’d have lectures there and it would be all about bringing more life back into Kilrush,” he added.

The upgrading works that were carried out by the NRA at the cost of € 150,000 came after a long-running campaign that was waged by both councillors and members of the council executive over a number of years.

“The efforts made by the people of Moore Street was incredible,” said Cllr Liam Williams (FG).

“Anybody that came home to Kilrush for Christmas, it was the chat. It’s something that can be built on,” he added.

“I must admit that the spirit was unreal on Moore Street,” said Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr Ian Lynch (FG). “It was unbelievable. The photographs that were in the exhibitions have been put on a CD and they are sending them to America and all over the place.

“Now the windows of premises that aren’t being used, they are going to keep the exhibition going and change around some of the photographs. It’s absolutely amazing and maybe it’s something that we should do each year and pick a street in the town,” he added.

“Maria Hartmann had a spectacular performance with the organization of the whole event. She is very much in favour of the reunion, so it’s onwards and upwards,” added Cllr Prendeville.

A GRANT of € 500,000 has been allocated by the Department of Transport to Clare County Council for the new bridge in Killaloe that will cross the Shannon linking Clare with Tipperary.

The grant has been given by Transport Minister, Leo Varadkar, to the council to enable the Shannon Crossing Project be brought through An Bord Pleanála,

Last August, Minister Varadkar, approved the publication of the Statutory Orders by Clare County Council for the construction of the Killaloe bypass and the Shannon Bridge crossing.

This paved the way for Clare County Council to seek approval from An Bórd Pleanála for the Environmental Impact Statement and the associated compulsory purchase order, which could see this scheme being approved and the land being purchased over the next two years.

The long-awaited project will cost an estimated € 40.6m. Public representatives in both Clare and North Tipperary regard this announcement as a major boost for tourism/employment.

The total length of the new Shannon crossing is 890 metres and entails the construction of a roadway with two roundabout junctions and one T-junction.

The span across the river will be 170 metres. This roadway has been designed for a basic six-metre wide carriageway, with the width increased where necessary to accommodate turning movements.

Provision has also been made for a two-metre wide cycle track on both sides of the road, over its full length.

Three junctions are proposed along the route with a roundabout at each end and a T-junction on the Killaloe side.

The deck of the new bridge will consist of four interior spans and two end spans.

“The quicker the new bridge is built and the roads are improved the better,” said Senator Tony Mulcahy (FG) in welcoming the grant allocation.

“The Killaloe – Ballina area is a big tourist draw and a new bridge will help bring more visitors into the whole Lough Derg catchment area. In this climate of austerity it has to be welcomed that important capital programmes are getting the resources to proceed,” he added.

This project has been broken down into three packages. The Killaloe bypass € 11.93m, the bridge itself at € 12m and works to the R494 at € 16.6m.

LANDLORDS in Kilrush have been challenged to breathe new economic life back into Kilrush by slashing their rents for business operators.

The call was sounded out by members of Kilrush Town Council at its first statutory meeting of the year as it formally backed a new campaign to secure urban renewal status for the town.

This twin-track approach to revitalize the West Clare capital’s town centre has emerged as part of the local authority’s plans to kick-start the second phase of the Moore Street Regeneration Project that will be expanded to include other business streets in the town.

Town Clerk John Corry has written to the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, seeking urban renewal status for the Moore Street area – a move that came on the back of a proposal to the December meeting of the council by Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF) and tabled formally as a motion before last Thursday’s meeting.

“It is in this council’s interest to encourage and facilitate a socially, economically and commercially regenerated Moore Street,” he said. “A Small Towns’ Urban Renewal Scheme would be welcomed by the construction industry and kickstart economic activity in areas far too long blighted by dilapidated vacant premises,” he added.

“There is no point in Kilrush Town Council and the NRA doing such a good job on Moore Street if the people with business premises don’t come on board,” said Cllr Paul Moroney (Ind).

“If they have unrealistic rents along with what we’re trying to do now with a reduced rates scheme, it won’t work. We need to work together. It’s out of our hands, but we need to get the word out there that if business can be done on Moore Street that we’re right behind it, but realistic rents need to be part of the equation,” he added.

“They will give reduced rents. They will be amenable to helping new businesses come in. A number have stated that they will be doing that. They are going to work with us,” said Marion McMahon-Jones (FG).

“There is an accountant who is prepared to give six months free accounting of the advice that businesses need, something that would be invaluable for businesses setting up,” she added.

GER Loughnane re-emerged on the national scene last Friday following his recent illness when he strongly criticised some sections of the media for their conduct during his battle with leukaemia over the past few months.

Loughnane’s re-emergence from his self-imposed media blackout was welcomed throughout the county, and indeed the country, as news of his return to health and form spread.

He confirmed in his interview that the worst of his treatment is over and he is close to fighting fit. He also showed he had lost none of his forthrightness by strongly criticising an unnamed RTÉ sports reporter and The Examiner newspaper for their conduct during his treatment.

The Feakle native stated he has been left with “nothing but absolute contempt” for certain journalists after he was requested to do an interview days after he started treatment and it was then reported he had died last July.

Writing in The Star newspaper, Loughnane stated, “The lowest point of all was when the rumours that I was dead went around. That was the hardest thing to deal with,” he said. “I had the first phase of chemotherapy just finished and the first phase is very, very difficult.”

After such an ordeal, he and his wife Mary had to calm his distraught son Conor, who had rung from Aus- tralia upon hearing and reading reports of his father’s death.

“I had to ring Conor to reassure him that everything was fine.”

The Clare legend was also angered by requests for an interview from a reporter that came two days after he started treatment.

“I got a message from an RTÉ reporter looking to do an interview. I didn’t even reply to it.”

The request was re-routed through a friend. “I was on the chemo for three days, he knew I was on chemo but he wanted to do an interview for his own gratification. Worse still then, he wanted to do an interview at the end of the year.

“He sent me a text saying he was thinking of me and praying for me, and was there any chance I’d do an interview. That’s despicable stuff altogether.

“It shows the kind of insincerity that is there with a certain section. When you see it as barefaced as that, you have nothing but absolute contempt for the people who are trying to pull that kind of stunt.”

The principal of St Aidan’s Primary School in Shannon also confirmed in the interview that he will be retiring from that role over the coming months, while it is unclear whether he will be returning to RTÉ as a Sunday Game pundit this summer.

KILRUSH Town Council has the ability to lead the way for local authorities around the country in their efforts to extricate themselves from contracts with private companies that have been described as “crazy” by former mayor Cllr Liam O’Looney (FF).

Cllr O’Looney, who spearheaded the local authority’s move to extri- cate itself from the provisions of a 20-year agreement with a private company for the public toilet on Martyr’s Square in the town, has said that a coalition of forces among local authorities should be established.

“The Municipal Authorities Association of Ireland has a role to play in this,” said Cllr O’Looney, “because since this council made the decision to give a 12-month notice about the public toilet in Kilrush, a number of councillors from other local authori- ties have been on to me. They want to do the same.

“Kilrush Town Council has shown the way and now through coordinating things at Municipal Authorities Association of Ireland level, if other councils did the same, these company who charged outlandish prices for the provision of services will have to deal with the council,” he added.

Earlier this month, Kilrush Town Council issued formal notice that it is to extricate itself from a 20-year agreement for the public toilet that was put in place in the town centre, by terminating the contract for the facility with JCDecaux Street Furniture Limited.

The public toilet will still be in operation in 2012 at a rental cost of € 35,910, but to terminate the contract later in the year the local authority must pay € 60,382 to Street Furniture Limited.

At the September meeting of Kilrush Town Council it was revealed that the town authorities were tied to a 20-year contract for provision of the toilet that was signed in 1999 and doesn’t run out until 2019.

“I must commend the management on what they’ve done,” Cllr Paul Moroney (Ind) told last Thursday’s Kilrush Town Council meeting. “Other councils were told in no uncertain terms that there was no opt out clause, but that’s not the case. This council has shown that it can be done,” he added.

CLARE County Council is owed more than € 10 million in unpaid water charges with schools and State agencies understood to be among the groups who owe money to the local authority.

According to the latest available figures received by The Clare People , just over € 9.8 million was owed to the local authority from its customers across the county. While updated figures for the end of 2011 will not be available until March or April of this year, it is understood that the amount owed to Clare County Council now exceeds € 10 million.

These figures mean that Clare is owed more in water charges than any other county council in the country, with only Dublin and Cork city councils – who are each owed more than € 15 million – owed more.

Both Wexford and Donegal county councils are understood to be owed an amount similar to Clare County Council.

A spokesperson from Clare County Council said that the level of arrears was mainly due to “the transition in billing arrangements on the non-domestic metering project”.

“This was where fixed bills to customers were replaced by the billing of metered usage,” he said.

“We are actively pursuing debtors to agree payment plans to discharge the arrears. Failure to reach agreement on payment will result in legal proceedings or disconnection of service to these customers.”

According to the local authority, a relatively small number of customers, around 10 per cent of the total number of customers, were currently “in difficulty” with their repayments. This represents the majority of the money owed to Clare County Council with the remainder being made off arrears.

Meanwhile, more than 50 jobs are expected to be created locally with the roll-out of domestic water metering in Clare later this year. The Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), confirmed yesterday that the roll-out of domestic water metering will begin in Clare this year.

It is estimated that it will take three years for water meters to be fitted in all homes in the county. While exact details have yet to be announced, it is understood that each household will be given an annual allocation of “free” water and will only pay if they use more than this allocation.

INCREASED “out-of-hours” inspections will take place in Ennis to curb the sale of smoky coal in the town, a meeting has heard.

Clare County Council is seeking to halt the sale in the town of the fuel, which is banned under regulations introduced last year.

Independent councillor and Ennisbased fuel merchant Frankie Neylon raised the matter at last week’s meeting of Ennis Town Council.

Cllr Neylon told the meeting that fuel merchants in Ennis had recent- ly met with local TDs.

He described coal sellers in Ennis as being in “dire straits”, adding that the “problem of emissions had not been solved in Ennis”.

Cllr Neylon said the activities of unregulated coal sellers operating in “Limerick, Tubber and an area outside Tulla” are driving customers away from sellers in Ennis who are subject to the new smoky coal regulations.

“We have been insulted and abused by people who have been buying coal off us for the past 20 years because we won’t sell them Polish coal,” he said.

Cllr Neylon said fuel merchants had requested that Clare’s Dáí l members ask Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, to suspend the legislation for two years so customers can be educated about the benefits of smokeless coal.

Emphasising that fuel merchants are not against smokeless coal, Cllr Neylon said the new legislation does nothing to stop customers burning smoky coal or prevent the sale of smoky coal in nearby Kilmaley, Clarecastle and Newmarket-on-Fergus.

He added, “If the government are serious about smoky coal, they can ban it at source.”

Last June, Minister Hogan announced that Ennis would be added to the list of towns and cities covered by the ‘Smoky Coal Ban’, under which it is illegal to market, sell or distribute bituminous or “smoky” coal.

Under the air pollution act, sellers found in breach of the ban could face fines of up to € 5,000.

The restricted area of Ennis includes Ennis and environs, comprising the following electoral divisions: Ennis Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 Urban; Clareabbey; Doora; Ennis Rural; and Spancilhill.

Town Manager Ger Dollard said Clare County Council have constantly engaged with local coal sellers.

He said that “out-of-hours” inspections would take place to curb the sale of smoky coal in banned areas. He said a public awareness campaign would be launched to highlight the law on smoky coal.

He said air quality data would also be sought from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) described the restriction as “a bad law that is encouraging the black economy”.

CLARE dairy farmers have been told to stay tough with the Co-Op and demand that no cut to the price in milk is made over the next three months.

According to the IFA, the local Co-Ops in Clare have “more than enough money” to hold milk prices at a constant level this spring, despite the weakness which crept into the EU and international dairy markets in recent months.

The organisation’s National Dairy Committee Chairman, Kevin Kiersey, said that Clare farmers should stand together and ensure that prices are maintained in the medium term.

“Increased global milk supplies and the economic downturn have clearly impacted international dairy markets in recent months. However, this is a very expensive time of year for Irish farmers to supply milk, and simply too early in the Irish production season to make definite milk price decisions,” he said.

“Co-ops generally collect relatively little milk this time of year, and will collect even less this year because of superlevy restrictions. Most can afford to hold milk prices over the coming months, because they have improved their margins in 2010 and 2011 at times when strong dairy prices coincided with strong milk supplies.

“Irish milk supplies will remain constrained by the prospect of superlevy for the next few months, and with less than usual milk to collect, most co-ops will be able to hold milk prices for the spring, at which point we should have a better feel for the realities of the market.”

Clare’s beef farmers, meanwhile, have been told to remain positive, with prices set to remain consistent or possibly even rise in the months ahead. The ICSA’s Livestock Price Coordinator, John Cleary, said last week that, while prices have not improved following the post-Christ- mas spike, the factory trade has remained solid.“Things are much of a muchness from last week. Prices are high and factories are actively looking for stock to meet their quotas so this all means that farmers are in the driving seat,” he said.

“Farmers, however, should not be simply settling for whatever the factory quotes them for their stock. These places are desperate for stock so those more adept at negotiating can push for higher than the quotes.

“The main piece of advise the ICSA could give to anyone at the minute is not to sell soft. The overall outlook is for a positive eight to nine months for 2012.”