Category: News

FIFTY Clare housing developments, which were classified as ‘ghost estates’ by the Department of the Environment in November of 2010, will have to pay the controversial € 100 household tax – despite the residents of 23 other Clare estates being given an exemption.

Indeed, the residents of one Clare housing development, the Cluainn Aoibheann estate at Ballycaseymore in Shannon, have been granted an exemption from the tax even though they were not classified as a ghost estate by the Department of the Environment.

This information has come to light following a Cla re People investigation into the reasons why some estates were made exempt by the Department of the Environment and others were not.

In November of 2010, the Department of the Environment classified 72 housing estates in Clare as ghost estates. The make-up of these estates varied drastically, with some being structurally unfinished and developer-abandoned, while others were nearing completion with a developer on site.

This list, which was later removed from the Department of the Environment website, gave a detailed classification of each of the 72 developments in Clare and showed what work was left to be done in each of the named estates.

According to this list, the Aisling housing development in Shannon, for example, which has been exempted from the € 100 household tax, was complete in every category except that 11 of the 103 apartment in the complex were vacant.

In contrast to this, the Acha Bhille housing estate in Ennis, whose residents will have to pay the € 100 charge, was reported by the Department of the Environment as having 20 units which were built to wall plate level and four units built to foundation level – but had no building activity on site at the time.

Speaking last night, Shannon Counillor Gerry Flynn (IND), who has been critical of both Clare County Council’s and the Department of the Environment’s handling of the tax, said he will “stand by” any Clare home owners in unfinished estates who will still be forced to pay the tax. For more, including the full list of housing esta tes in Cla re tha t ha ve been exempted from the € 100 cha rge a nd the list of developments tha t ha ve been cla ssified a s ‘ghost esta tes’ by the Depa r tment of the Envir onment but will still ha ve to pa y the ta x, tur n to page 21.

WEST Clare locals appear to be split on a proposal to construct one of Ireland’s largest ever wind energy farms in Doonbeg, with a number of local submissions, both for and against, being lodged with An Bord Pleanála. The proposal would see the construction of 45 wind turbines at Shragh near Doonbeg, in an area where 13 turbines have been constructed or have been granted permission for construction.

If constructed, the € 200 million wind farm will see turbines reaching 400 feet tall, more than half the height of the Cliffs of Moher. While some concerns have been raised about the scale of the farm, it has also been argued that the development will be a major economic boost for the area, with more than 100 jobs being created in the construction phase while 79 local farmers and landowners are set to benefit from annual rental payments from West Coastal Wind Power Ltd, the company developing the farm.

One of the main objectors to the project is the Friends of the Environment organisation, who say that the development would be the largest of its kind in Ireland if it gets the goahead. They also accused the developers of using the bait of big financial pay-outs to landowners to split the local community on the issue.

“The proposed very large wind farm is an inappropriate development as it will have a significant adverse visual impact on the landscape, ecology and on rare and protected species, with an adverse effect on tourism and the local economy,” said Tony Lowes of Friends of the Environment. “Because of the substantial payments involved to participating landowners, developers can split rural communities with long-term social consequences.”

In their submission, the Friends of the Environment also claim that the developments on both the Tullaher Loop and the Doonbeg Loop walking routes have been developed in the area in recent years.

Other groups to lodge submissions on the plan include Birdwatch Ireland, the Department of Heritage and Fáilte Ireland, who have raised concern over what they describe as the “industrial scale” of the proposed development.

CLARE County Council’s headquarters in Ennis have been described as looking more like “a latter day Fawlty Towers” than the state of the art facility € 27m facility that was opened in 2008.

The claim was made of former Mayor of Clare, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) after it was revealed that over € 130,000 worth of repairs are needed on the headquarters that was constructed by Michael McNamara & Co, formerly one of Ireland’s leading building contractors that went into receivership in November 2010.

And, during a debate that was sparked by Cllr Kelly’s motion calling on council chiefs to give a breakdown on the Áras an Chláir works, it emerged that Clare County Council could yet be forced to foot the bill for improvements.

This is because, despite a guarantees received by Michael McNamara & Co that it would pay for improvement works for a 12-year period, the appointed

Receiver Farrell Grant Sparks has so given “no commitment” that it will cover the costs.

In his motion Cllr Kelly asked that “a report be made available with regard to repairs” which covered the “cost of repairs to date”, the estimated cost of future repairs” and “who pays the costs”.

In response, senior executive officer Michael McNamara said “work is nearing completion on the rectification of defective parapet capping on the roof at Corporate Headquarters and the contractor will then be attending to the rectifying the cause of the staining to the external wall near the Chamber”.

Mr McNamara also revealed that “payments in respect of their works total € 51,640 and the estimated further cost of completing the works is € 80,000”.

Áras an Chláir was officially opened four years ago this month.

The development, the largest building project in the county since the construction of Moneypoint Power Station, was built to provide accommodation for 300 staff, as well as meeting rooms, a staff canteen, a laboratory, a Mayor’s office, a council chamber, three party rooms for the elected members and 320 car parking spaces.

“Was a commitment got from the receiver that the costs of the work would be met,” asked Cllr Kelly during Monday’s January monthly meeting of the council.

“We have no commitment from the receiver,” admitted

Mr McNamara. “The council has been in correspondence with the receiver with a view to getting money for the works.

“The contractor provided a collateral agreement to meet the cost of remedial works for a period of 12 years from the date of completion of the building – this agreement remains in place until 2020,” he told the meeting.

“There is a legal contract in place and the money can be recouped,” said County Manager, Tom Coughlan.

Former Mayor of Clare, Patricia McCarthy criticised the use of ‘Fawlty Towers’ to describe the council headquarters, saying “with all due respects to Cllr Kelly,

you have to be very careful to describe it in the way he does. We have a fine building and a modern building”.

“People are every impressed with this building,” said County Manager, Tom Coughlan.

“None of them have told me that t looks like Fawlty Towers.

“None of them have said that the place is falling down,” he added.

Cllr Kelly was a Fianna Fáil council colleague of former Michael McNamara & co chief, Bernard McNamara, who served on Clare County Council from 1974 to 1985.

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.