Tag Archives: clare county council

THE Chief Executive of the local authority has pledged to spend the summer working to secure the national support that will be needed if Shannon Heritage’s Clare attractions are to transfer to the council. At July meeting of the authority, a number of members welcomed the announcement that a process of due diligence involving the council and Shannon Group is underway. Chief Executive Pat Dowling told members that he is putting a council team together with the necessary financial and legal expertise and that he himself will meet staff at the Clare attractions in the month of August. News of the potential transfer was announced at the end of last month. It followed a protracted period of uncertainty and intermittent closure, caused by Covid restrictions, for Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, Knappogue Castle and Craggaunowen, as well as Shannon Heritage’s other sites. The matter was noted at the local authority meeting by Councillor Joe Garrihy who described the potential transfer …

THE Mayor of the Ennis Municipal District has been sharply critical of a lack of action on illegal dumping on a number of sites around the county, including one on the Tulla Road. Councillor Ann Norton asked a series of detailed questions ahead of the July meeting of the local authority looking for a progress update – in terms of waste removal and remediation – on hotspots across Clare. The Independent member also sought an update on staff resources and the number of enforcement notices served over the last three years. Welcoming an official reply, which said that 97% of complaints made since 2018 had been resolved, Councillor Norton voiced disappointment at the fact that the Tulla Road site has not been tackled. “I was first asked to raise this issue some years ago,” she said. “Now, once again, there are questions over what is being done. The 3% of unresolved dumping sites are always an issue. This includes the …

PLANS for a new Aldi store in Ennis are “good news” for the county capital insists hurling legend Brian Lohan. The Clare hurling manager alongside Inch businessman Martin O’Malley are behind plans to develop the Westpoint Retail Park on the Kilrush Road. If given the go-ahead, the discount store will be an anchor tenant in the second stage of Westpoint’s development, with a HSE Outpatients Department already on site. Mr Lohan has lodged a planning application to Clare County Council for a change of use from retail warehouse to a discount food store at Westpoint. According to Aldi this new store will create 30 new permanent jobs at the store, and up to 50 construction jobs, if given the green light. It aims to open the 1,000sqm store in late 2023. Mr Lohan told The Clare Champion that they have been working in partnership with Aldi for a number of months ahead of lodging this planning application. He said he …

A COUNTY Clare sports club has described funding received through Healthy Ireland as a “lifeline”. Derg Athletics Club received €22,000 of the total €374,100 allocated to county Clare under Healthy Ireland funding. On Friday the club hosted Minister of State with responsibility for Public Health, Well Being and National Drugs Strategy, Frank Feighan in Killaloe to see first-hand the benefits the funding has brought for local and voluntary groups in Clare. The TD was greeted by the Cathaoirleach and elected members of Clare County Council, Clare Oireachtas Members, and local representatives and stakeholders, together with staff from Clare County Council and representatives of the wider community in Killaloe. Established in 2013, Derg Athletics Club offers physical activity programmes for all in Clarisford Park, Killaloe. Healthy Ireland funding is helping to sustain the club’s inclusive athletics programmes and is essential to enabling participation in athletics activities for children with a physical disability or those on the autism spectrum. It is available …

A NEW centre for natural medicines and therapy has been given the go-ahead by Clare County Council for a site outside Feakle. The owners of the Satmya Vedic Living Centre, which has been in operation in Killaloe since 2007, told county planners they wish to create an eco-friendly building on lands that they own in Magherabawn, Feakle. The project will involve a single-storey building to replace existing demolished stables and will contain a classroom, treatment room, consultation facilities and dispensary. Six parking spaces will be created beside an existing yard and a hay barn will be removed. The business will offer naturopathy as well as an Indian traditional therapy called Ayurveda. Yvette and Douglas Hyde have described the proposed new building as being in the style of a traditional Irish farmhouse or outbuilding with a corrugated red iron roof and external cladding of plaster or wood. According to the planning application, the treatment room will be used for teaching Ayurveda …

PLANS for housing for older members of a religious community in Tuamgraney are being considered by Clare County Council. At the end of last month, The Christian Community lodged an application to update their existing facilities at Drewsborough and to create 12 new accommodation units. On its website (Thechristiancommunityireland.net), The Christian Community, a registered charity, describes itself as a “religious renewal movement”, which was founded in Europe in the years following World War I and came to Ireland in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Currently, weekly and monthly services are held in Tuamgraney and in the Kilkenny area. According to a design statement submitted with the application, the existing Christian Community Centre is made up of a chapel, priest’s house, visitor accommodation, therapy rooms and associated services. “The existing chapel does not meet the needs of the community/congregation,” the statement outlined, “and the building is in need of major repairs and maintenance”. The statement also described “an acute need identified in …

CLARE’S Sinn Féin TD has sharply criticised the fact that Clare people, whose homes have defects proven to be linked to pyrite, must continue to pay Local Property Tax (LPT). Deputy Violet Anne Wynne, who last week raised the issue in the Dáil with the Tánaiste, said the lack of action for homeowners here is a source of huge frustration. The Defective Concrete Blocks Grant Scheme is only open to Counties Mayo and Donegal and covers a maximum of 90% of remediation costs. Earlier this month, the government announced that those eligible for the scheme would get a six-year LPT waiver. Because Clare has not yet been included in the redress scheme, the LPT exemption does not apply here. Currently, at the request of the Department of Housing, Clare County Council is compiling a report on the scale of the pyrite issue here, with a view to making the case for the extension of the scheme. “Homeowners in Clare still …

AN OVERWHELMING majority of members of Clare County Council have voted to leave the rate of Local Property Tax (LPT) for 2022 at 15% above the standard rate. Councillors have the power to increase or decrease the LPT by up to 15 per cent each year from the basic rate, which is calculated based on the value of a property. On the recommendation of Council Chief Executive Pat Dowling, members voted this week to retain the higher rate, with the aim of raising an additional €1.5m for the local authority. After a motion to leave the 15% hike in place was tabled by Councillor Pat Hayes and seconded by Councillor Joe Cooney, a bid to return to the standard rate was proposed by Councillor Gerry Flynn and seconded by Councillor Donna McGettigan. When put to the vote, 24 councillors were in favour of retaining the higher rate, two members were against and two were judged to be absent from the …