West Clare

While the 2010 Kilrush Town Council budget, which was adopted last Thursday night, included no increase in commercial rates, overall expenditure for the provision of services in the town will be down 12.5% on the 2009 figures. The budget provides for €1,517,869 for the year ahead, compared to €1,736,384 for this year.Income for 2010 has been estimated at €732,298 compared to €887,179 in 2009. This estimate represents at 17.5% reduction in income for the year ahead in Kilrush. The decision to provide two hours of free parking in the lead-up to Christmas will also hit the town council budget.The budget also includes a 14% reduction in the town council payroll from that budgeted in 2009.Among additional key points adopted was a freeze on local authority housing rent rates, a 3% reduction in commercial water charges and an increase in the housing maintenance programme.With regard to the local road network, the town council expects a 10% reduction on their allocation next …

Despite the recent flooding in the county, there is no major emergency plan in place to deal with a re-occurrence in Kilrush.“Following recent flooding events within the county, a review will be taking place of Clare County Council’s major emergency plan and will be adjusted or modified as required,” Kilrush town engineer Derek Troy said in a written statement at last week’s Kilrush Town Council meeting.He was replying to Councillor Ian Lynch’s request for details of the Kilrush town emergency plan in the event of adverse weather conditions.“All works and emergency procedures that relate to Kilrush town are covered under Clare’s major emergency plan. Kilrush Town Council does not have an individual one for the town and there are no current plans to develop a major emergency plan specific to Kilrush,” Mr Troy added.Councillors pointed out that several parts of Kilrush, notably the Ennis and Cappa roads and the area near the handball alley, were badly affected by the recent …

SUCH is the lack of public street lighting at St Patrick’s Terrace in Kilkee, Councillor Paddy Collins has likened the local authority estate to “the Black Hole of Calcutta”.The Black Hole of Calcutta was the guard room in the old Fort William, at Calcutta, India where troops of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, held British prisoners of war after the capture of the Fort on June 19, 1756.With reference to the absence of sufficient light at St Patrick’s Terrace, Councillor Collins claimed that it is impossible to see the housing estate once it gets dark, adding that the bulb has blown in the one public light that normally works.“If you passed St Patrick’s Terrace (at night) you wouldn’t know it was there. Now the only lights you can see are Christmas lights,” he said.“There’s only one light there at the moment and the bulb is gone. It has been gone for a week. There are no lights in St …

THE 2009 Kilrush Tidy Towns Awards were presented at Looney’s Bar in John Street recently.  

LOOP Head lighthouse has a lot of potential for development as a tourist attraction, this week’s meeting of Kilrush electoral area councillors heard.

  When he was just 18 years of age, Dennis Liddane left the family home in Rehy, Kilkee and set sail on the emigrant ship for a new life in America.

KILKEE Community College hosted a conference of teachers from three European schools, Vlaardingen, Holland; Saarbrucken, Germany and Nantes, France as part of the Comenius Teachers’ Exchange Programme. Nine visiting teachers spent four days in Kilkee and they included two French teachers, three Dutch teachers and four German teachers. The exchange programme focused on the teaching of languages and a review of a selected aspect of life in the host school, Critical Friends Review. The European teachers spent time in some language classes and also had a formal meeting with parents, students and teachers in the school. Mrs Theresa O’Donnellan, principal Kilkee Community College, greatly appreciates the co-operation of students, parents and staff that contributed to the success of the conference. Niall Williams, author and teacher of English at Kilkee Community College, conducted a workshop with the language group in the school. The French teachers availed of the fine weather on the Tuesday to spend time on the Cliff Road and …

CAPPA playground in Kilrush had to be closed for a few days from last Friday due to safety concerns.At last Thursday night’s meeting of the town council, Councillor Paul Moroney produced pictures showing the playground in a state of some disrepair and he was critical of how expenditure on the playground had been used. Councillor Moroney put forward a motion requesting a breakdown on how much was spent on upgrade works at the playground. In the report from clerk, John Corry, it showed that a total of €45,124.96 had been spent, with the largest payment of €19,550 going to Cavanagh Playground Equipment.Councillor Moroney said he was “staggered” that so much had been spent on playground equipment, as the pictures he presented showed a number of serious faults.He said that the state of the playground was “absolutely disgraceful” and he asked if there had been any proper monitoring of the work. “Did anyone go out and view it after it was …