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Tag Archives: ennistymon mart

New Year decision on Ennistymon mart plan

People in North Clare will have to wait until next year to find out if controversial plans to knock Ennistymon Mart and build an Aldi supermarket will be allowed. An Bord Pleanála had been expected to decide earlier this week whether or not to permit the proposed demolition of existing buildings on the site and the construction of a single-storey discount foodstore, including off-licence and a carpark with in the region of 80 spaces. However, a decision on the future of the site will not be made until next month. The proposed project was given the go-ahead by Clare County Council earlier in the year, subject to 21 conditions, but this was appealed by three separate parties, Save Ennistymon Mart Committee, local residents and former Mayor of Clare, Flan Garvey. An Bord Pleanála held a lively oral hearing on the proposed development in November, at which all three parties were represented along with Clare County Council and Aldi Stores (Ireland) …

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Ennistymon right of way row

A DISPUTED right of way on the proposed site for a new Aldi supermarket “will be contested to the end”, a former mayor of Clare told an oral hearing last week. An Bord Pleanála held a two-day hearing in Ennis last week after three separate appeals were lodged against permission for the development of the discount supermarket on the mart site in Ennistymon. As well as the amenity value of the existing mart, Kevin O’Connor, the resident living closest to the site, described how schoolchildren, local people and firefighters at the nearby station have used a stile beside his home to access a right of way through the mart grounds for decades. Mr O’Connor described how he is the third generation of his family to live on Churchill, his children are the fourth and his grandchildren the fifth. In cross-questioning, he estimated that the stile “must be there over 40 years”. He said he had been using it for the …

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Ennistymon mart site burial claims in affadivit

A discount supermarket should not be built in a North Clare town because part of the proposed site may have been used as a children’s burial ground, objectors to the project have claimed. Aldi Stores Ireland Ltd was granted permission by Clare County Council last month to demolish Ennistymon Mart and build a single-storey discount foodstore on the site. Now, the Save Ennistymon Mart Committee has submitted an affidavit, sworn by one of its members, to An Bord Pleanála claiming a woman who had lived in the town “had arranged for a priest to bless a part of the Fair Green below Doherty’s gate under which…the bodies of small children had been buried”. “These were unbaptised children whom the Catholic Church did not allow to be buried inside the grounds of the church and graveyard, which is nearby,” the affidavit from local farmer Tom Clair states. The group has opposed the closure and sale of Ennistymon Mart since it was …

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Aldi decision to be appealed

DESPITE numerous local objections, Aldi Stores Ireland Ltd have been granted planning permission for the demolition of existing buildings at Ennistymon mart and the construction of a new discount foodstore, including off-licence, with a gross floor area of 1,590m2. Clare County Council granted their application subject to 21 conditions. These include a requirement that the development only operates between 9am and 8pm between Monday and Saturday and only between 10am and 7pm on Sundays and public holidays. There is also a requirement that there be no deliveries between 11am and 7am. The decision will be appealed to An Bord Pleanála, Pat O’Donoghue, chairman of the Save Ennistymon Mart Committee, confirmed on Wednesday. “We have decided to appeal and we have applied for an open forum because it’s much bigger than a farmers’ mart issue, there’s a lot of local residents quite unhappy with the location. There’s a lot of people who are employed in the town who are concerned about …

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March 17 deadline for Aldi planning decision

A decision on whether or not a discount supermarket can be built on the site of Ennistymon Mart is due to be made before St Patrick’s Day. Clare County Council received an application in the past week from John Spain Associates, on behalf of Aldi Stores, for a proposed shop with 82 car-parking spaces on the mart site at Church Hill and Circular Road. The site has been the subject of controversy in recent years, with local farmers fighting to keep the mart open. In December 2014, officers of the Ennistymon branch of Irish Farmers’ Association, in an unprecedented move in the county, resigned their positions. They took the decision to give up their roles in protest over the sale of the mart to Aldi and what they saw as a lack of support from Clare IFA on the matter. The branch committee members took the united action “to highlight our frustration with the IFA on their approach to the …

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IFA officers resign over Ennistymon mart sale

Officers of the Ennistymon branch of the Irish Farmers’ Association, in an unprecedented move in the county, have resigned their positions. They took the decision to give up their roles in protest over the sale of the local mart to an international retailer and what they see as a lack of support from Clare IFA. The branch committee members took the united action “to highlight our frustration with the IFA on their approach to the sale of Ennistymon Mart”. Ennistymon Mart is run by Clare Marts Ltd, the farmer-owned co-operative, which also runs livestock marts in Ennis, Kilrush, Scariff and Kilfenora. It sold the mart site in Ennistymon to Aldi, subject to planning permission, provoking anger among the farming community in the mart’s catchment areas of Ennistymon, Kilshanny, Doolin, Liscannor, Miltown Malbay, Mullagh and Inagh. The Ennistymon branch of the IFA met last Wednesday and the committee resigned their positions but urged people to retain their association membership. “We feel …

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Mart sale could spark boycott

FARMERS in North and West Clare may boycott the majority of marts in the county if Ennistymon Mart is sold, a local representative has said. The possible sale of the town-centre site to a discount retailer has provoked anger among the farming community in the mart’s catchment area of Ennistymon, Kilshanny, Doolin, Liscannor, Miltown Malbay, Mullagh, and Inagh. Members of the Irish Farmers’ Association will meet on Wednesday next to discuss what action to take in relation to the possible sale. “I expect that members will look at a peaceful protest outside Clare Marts in Ennis and maybe we will contact Aldi too because they should know that local people aren’t very happy about this,” said Tom Clair, vice chairman of the Ennistymon branch of the IFA. “There is outrage in the area. We want the mart here to stay open. If this goes ahead now, there won’t be a place for a farmer to park his bicycle in his …

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