Category: News

CLARE County Council procedures governing the taxing of vehicles are set to be reviewed after a furore was raised by the President of the Irish Road Haulage Association last week when he questionned whether it was “a deliberate policy to hinder businesses from trying to carry out their daily work”.

Eoin Gavin launched a broadside at procedures in place at the motor tax office that has relocated to Áras an Chláir, after he was told that he wasn’t allow tax more than three vehicles at one time.

“I waited for 45 minutes and, when I got to the desk, the official informed me that they could only tax three trucks at any one time and that I would have to return on another day to tax the outstanding vehicles,” blasted Mr Gavin.

According to Mr Gavin, the council subsequently agreed to tax all of his vehicles “as a once-off” and that, going forward, the policy of not taxing more than three vehicles at the one time would remain in place.

“This is an absurd situation to have to tolerate,” said Mr Gavin. “I have 17 vehicles, 13 of which are HGVs, and I invest a substantial amount of money in the local authority in road tax each year. I also employ 16 people directly from the local area and many more indirectly.

“The attitude which I recently experienced, which seems to be commonplace across county council offices around the country, is resulting in a lot of hauliers asking should we now re-register in the North of Ireland where road tax is non-existent or minimal.

“Licensed road haulage operators are seeking to tax their vehicles in order to operate in a legally compliant manner, but this is not being facilitated by tax offices. Economic recovery is reliant on a vibrant export economy and only through the utilization of HGVs will that objective be realised,” he added.

Following representations made to Shannon area representative Cllr PJ Ryan (Ind), The Cla re People understands that the Clare County Council policy is now being reviewed. “It’s only right,” said Cllr Ryan. “There has to be a streamlining of all services and this is part of that. This helps business move quicker and that’s what everyone should want,” he added.

AN assault on a taxi driver in Ennis was “blown out of the water” by the media, according to the Mayor of Ennis.

Independent Councillor Michael Guilfoyle was speaking at the January meeting of Ennis Town Council as members rejected the image of Ennis as a racist town.

Cllr Guilfoyle was commenting after a man received a prison sentence for an assault on Nigerian taxi driver Batholomew Omoifo in Ennis in June 2010.

Ennis District Court heard that Mr Omoifo suffered € 2,400 worth of damage to his teeth as a result of the assault.

Cllr Guilfoyle (Ind) told last week’s meeting that many people had been assaulted in Ennis over the years. In relation to the assault on Mr Omoifo, Cllr Guilfoyle said that when the “media got it, it turned out a lot worse than it was”.

He added, “The media have a habit of blowing things out of the water.”

He said Ennis had been portrayed as a racist town and “we’re not that type of town”.

The matter was raised by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) who said he rejected out of hand the assertion that Ennis is a racist town.

He said, “Ennis is as open and tolerant a town as I have come across.”

Cllr Meaney said that Mr Omoifo had said he was subjected to daily racist abuse in Ennis. Cllr Meaney said he did not accept this statement, saying that he would like the taxi driver to speak at a council meeting.

He added, “I would like an opportunity to correct a media record that is starting to develop that is injurious to the image of this town.”

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said Ennis is one of the friendliest towns in Ireland, pointing to the electoral success of Taiwo Matthew and Dr Moosajee Bhamjee as proof that racist attitudes are not widespread in Ennis.

Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) told the meeting that he had listened to an interview with Mr Omoifo on Clare FM. He said that Mr Omoifo had praised the town of Ennis and the people of Ennis.

“It’s not all one-sided,” he added.

HARDPRESSED ratepayers around the county that go out of business won’t have to pay their dues to Clare County Council for the whole year.

That will the mission statement of Clare County Council going forward if they get the sanction from the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Phil Hogan.

The new move comes after a motion by Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) that the council would not pursue businesses that cease trading during the year for 12 months of rates payments.

“The reason that I put down this motion,” said Cllr Cooney, “is that in the current climate with so many businesses closing down, the council shouldn’t be looking to charge businesses for the whole year and then refund them money at the end of the year. Businesses should just be charged for the rates due for as long as they are in business. At the start of the rates year they are told that they have to pay rates for the entire year, but it should be a case where that if they cease trading during the year, they only have to pay up for as long as they were in business,” he added.

“The council have to spend time collected the rates and following people up looking for their rates contributions. I think it should be put to the minister that this should change.

“Some businesses that cease trading might start up again to maintain jobs, so it would be a big help if they didn’t have to pay rates for the full year on the first business,” continued Cllr Cooney.

The Fine Gael representative’s mo- tion was backed by Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) who said he knew “several business who were in severe financial difficulty and if they go out of business, they won’t be able to pay rates for the whole year and won’t be able to get credit to pay the rates from financial institutions to pay their rates, even though they would get a refund at the end of the year.

“In view of the current economic climate it makes common sense to change this, because people would stand some chance if the amount of rates that was due for the time they were in business was collected,” continued Cllr Kelly. “We are bound and governed by legislation on this,” said County Manager, Tom Coughlan. “It can be debated in the council, but at the end of the day we are bound by the legislation that’s there.”

After the council resolved to write to Minister Hogan on the issue, the County Manager backed the move as a positive development. “It’s wasting our time as a council collecting rates and then having to refund them,” he said, “and I appreciate what the councillors are trying to do.”

NEARLY half of households throughout Clare don’t pay for household refuse collection from a registered operator, raising fears that a new ‘black economy’ has emerged around the whole area of waste disposal because of these harsh economic climate.

Ennis area councillor Johnny Flynn (FG) made the claim during a debate on a report on the findings of the Special Policy Committee on the Environment during the January meeting of Clare County Council on Monday.

“I know that 48 per cent of householders don’t have a contract for waste collection,” revealed Cllr Flynn, “and there seems to be a black economy developing, with a lot of people paying people who are not registered operators to remove their waste,” he added.

And, his figures were backed up by Betty Devanney from the environment section of the local authority, while a number of councillors said that the figure of 48 per cent was brought about by virtue of the fact that a growing numbers of house- holders are pooling together to cover their refuse costs.

“Some householders are sharing bin costs,” revealed former Mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind). “That’s one of the reasons for the 48 per cent. I share a bin and I think it’s good that if people can come to some sort of agreement like that,” she added. “Because of the town we live in, we should encourage more people to share bin costs,” said Cllr John Crowe (FG).

However, Cllr Flynn pressed for the council to put the onus on householders to prove that their refuse is being collected by a registered operator and that their waste isn’t being disposed of illegally.

“In Limerick and Louth they have waste by-laws in place, whereby people have to prove to the council that they have a contract with a registered operator to remove their waste,” said Cllr Flynn. “That should be brought in by Clare County Council,” he added.

“We are aware of Limerick and Louth and the by-laws that are in place,” said council official Betty Devanney, “and we will be discussing that as an SPC meeting to have them in place in Clare,” she added.

KILRUSH Town Council has finally resolved to flush away the public toilet in the town centre that costs over € 200,000 to operate over a fiveyear period, while netting less that € 10,000 in income for the local authority over the same period.

The Council has issued formal notice that it is to extricate itself from a 20-year agreement for the public toilet on Martyr’s Square in the town.

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

At the September meeting of Kil- rush 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.

At that meeting Independent councillor Paul Moroney had described Kilrush’s public toilet as “the most expensive piece of retail property in Ireland”.

EIRGRID have admitted that a number of renewable energy projects that will “realistically never see the light of day” have been offered a connection to the national grid while other live development, such as the West Clare Renewable Energy Project in Mount Callan, will have to wait for as much as a decade to be given the green light.

EirGrid’s Transmission Access Planning Manager, Simon Grimes, was invited to address last night‘s meeting of Clare County Council and admitted that some projects could face a prolonged wait to be granted a connection.

Miltown Malbay councillor Michael Hillery questioned the EirGrid spokesperson about the reasons for delaying viable projects which have already been granted planning permission.

“We are under the impression that it could take between five or ten years for connection to come for the project in Mount Callan. Between Moneypoint to Dublin we have one of the biggest power-lines in the country and I don’t see why thhis cannot be used to facilitate the con nection in Mount Callan,” he said.

According to Mr Grimes, EirGrid have used the length of time that a application has been made and not whether the projects has received planing permission of is financially viable as the main criteria for agreeing to grid connections.

“The Commission for Energy Regulation ultimately decide who gets connected but they do consult with EirGrid and the ESB. Currently they do decided on connections without taking planning permission into account but my feeling is that this will probably change and,” said Mr Grimes.

“There are a lot of projects that have connection offers that will never see the light of day because of planning permission. At the same time there are other projects who have planning permission but no not a grid connection.

“There are projects that do have a grid offer but do not have planning permission – that is a fact. Some developers try and get the grid connection first – some took to get the planning first. I do think there will be a preference given to projects that have planning permission in the future.”

County Manager, Tom Coughlan, said that given the delays in the connections to the grid it is unlikely that Clare will be able to reach the targets set out in the County Development Plan.

“We have a wind energy strategy which has been developed by ourselves and that means we want to have 515 units developed by 2017. If it is going to take a decade for them to get connected it will be extremely difficult for us to reach the targets which have been set.”

A COURT has heard how a 15-yearold boy who suffers from serious behavioral disorders was told he had to wait two years to access treatment for drug problems.

The boy, accompanied by his family, appeared at Ennis District Court on Friday. He was charged with assault and criminal damage arising out a disturbance at a house in the Mid-Clare area.

The court heard that the boy suffers from ADHD, ODD and dyslexia. A HSE social worker told the court that over the past two years there had been a pattern of either threatening or abusive behaviour.

Garda Cathal Nolan gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution. He told the court that when he arrived at the house, the boy was holding a golf club. Garda Nolan said that when he tried to take the club, the boy said, “I’m going to kill you and wreck the place.”

Garda Nolan said an attempt was made to invoke a Section 12 order. He said that when the boy was brought to meet social workers at River House, a HSE office, he became “extremely violent and aggressive,” and had to be restrained and handcuffed.

The boy told the court that he had stopped attending counselling sessions and that he understood that the court had the power to remand him in custody. He also acknowledged his difficulties with drugs. “I asked them two years ago for help with drugs. They tried but said I could not get in ‘til I was 15.”

The boy’s father told the court that he had never seen his son behave in such a violent manner. He added, “He came to me at 13 and said he was taking drugs and that he was feeling bad and that he wanted to get off them.”

The man said the family were told that the boy could not get a place at an addiction treatment centre until he turned 15. He said that 90 per cent of his son’s problems relate to drugs.

Judge Aeneas McCarthy said the boy required proper assessment in a controlled environment. Ordering that he attend Trinity House for a full psychological, psychiatric and educational assessment, Judge McCarthy said that in a volountary situation “where he could walk in and out, it’s not going to work”.

In response to pleas from the boy’s father, Judge McCarthy said: “This is not punishing a young man. This is him being properly assessed.”

CLARE County Council are still awaiting any formal contact from the Department of the Environment advising them which unfinished housing estate in Clare will be exempted from the € 100 housing levy.

The local authority confirmed last night that, although they have received a number of queries from the public about the issue, the department is yet to give them any indication who will pay and who will not.

Last year seven housing estates in Clare wee given Category Four status by the Department of the Environment – which means that they are unfinished housing estates where there is no chance that the developer will be able to finish the estate. It had been speculated that all houses in category four housing estates will be exempted form the € 100 charge.

Speaking at last nights meeting of Clare County Council, Director of Services, Nora Kaye, said that Clare County Council is yet to receive any information what-so-ever from the Department of the Environment concerning possible exemptions .

“The council did have a roll in trying to categories the estate of unfinished estates in the county. There were seven in category four. I am not aware of the rational behind the list that the Minister for the Environment is compiling at the moment and whether that has any connection to the list produced last year,” she said.

“We have not been contacted by the department about this. We have not been asked for statistics from the de- partment about this list. We are trying to determine for ourselves what estates will be categorisesd in what list.“We are getting a lot of queries from the public about their lists and we understand that clarification is coming from the department in the coming days and that would be a welcome move. This does not mean that these are ghost estates – this means that they are unfinished.”

Shannon Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) described it as “lunacy” that the details of who must pay this charge have not yet been finalised, even though some people have already paid the charge.

“It is absolute lunacy that the Minister for the Environment would not have the list out there. This charge came into effect on the first of January,” he said.

A CONTROLLED explosion was carried out on a suspicious device discovered on the strand at Lahinch Beach over the weekend. The Army Bomb Disposal Unit carried out the explosion on the four foot long metal canister, which was discover on the north end of the strand beside Lahinch Golf Course in the early hours of Sunday morning last.

The suspicious device was discovered by a walker on the beach just after 7pm on Saturday evening, January 7. The walker contacted Gardaí in Ennistymon who attended at the scene along with the Ennistymon Fire and Rescue Service and the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard.

The Army Bomb Disposal Unit travelled to Lahinch from Cork to examine the cylinder and decided to carry out a controlled explosion at the site just after midnight on Sunday morning.

THERE have been calls for new emergency access points to be introduced on a section of the M18 near Barefield. The National Roads Authority (NRA) has been urged to carry out the “retrofit” works to ensure that emergency service vehicles can reach accidents on the road.

The call came after it emerged that an emergency vehicle had to travel almost 20km to Crusheen to attend a single vehicle crash that occurred near the Barefield interchange last week.

Despite the accident occurring close to Ennis, the ambulance was forced to travel north to Crusheen in order to gain access to the southbound carriage of the motorway. Councillor Johnny Flynn (FG), said that in light of recent accidents in the area, the NRA should look at providing access points on the M18.

He explained, “Because of the concrete median there is serious difficulty for emergency vehicles trying to get to accidents. In that case the journey had to be extended by almost 15 to 20km. When the NRA were designing the motorway they didn’t leave room for sufficient ac- cess points. It could have been done at Tubber or Dromore.”

He added, “It would be a matter of retrofitting the motorway. There would be access points every 5km across the concrete barriers. So instead of travelling 20km, if you had multiple access points, you would have a facility to access it.”

Cllr Flynn warned that the situation could be exacerbated if accidents occurred in both the north and south carriageways. “On a foggy day or a day when the weather is really bad, it’s conceivable that you could have accidents at points at either end of the motorway and you would have serious difficulties trying to get to them.”

Cllr Flynn added, “The delay in getting to the accident site would impact on the ‘golden hour’ – which is the critical time frame from the time of an accident to receiving treatment.”

Concern had previously been expressed over the length of the slip roads from the M18 at some of the road’s main access points.

Cllr Flynn said safety works carried out by the NRA were welcome. He added, “the motorway system is much more safer but the frequency of accidents at that location that is quite worrying.”