Tag Archives: Gabriel Keating

FINE Gael’s Joe Cooney was this afternoon elected Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council at its AGM, succeeding Killaloe’s Tony O’Brien. Councillor Gabriel Keating was elected leas Cathaoirleach. It was the 50th Council AGM to be attended by Councillor PJ Kelly and a special presentation was made to him to mark the milestone. On his last day wearing the chain of office, Councillor O’Brien said that when he was first elected to the Council the possiblity of one day being Cathaoirleach had been in the back of his mind, and he said it had been “a dream come true” to represent Clare locally, nationally and internationally. He praised the Council staff and his colleagues for their support over the last years, while he said that Clare’s volunteers are “the heartbeat of our county.” When the presentation was made to Councillor Kelly he said that when he was first elected in 1974 “I didn’t expect to be here after nine elections or …

THE number of places available for students to study nursing in Ireland should be increased, according to Councillor Gabriel Keating. At a recent meeting of Clare County Council, he said, “An increase in points is being driven by the shortage of undergraduate places in our universities and institutes of technology. “The number of placements in general nursing programmes reduced from 1,870 places in 2009 to 1,500 places in 2015, due to the HSE decision that year to reduce the number of places as a cost-saving measure, given that as part of their education trainee nurses receive a payment when there are on placement in hospitals.” He said that nursing courses are becoming increasingly difficult to access. “For example, midwifery and nursing courses in UCC were both 445 points, while general nursing at UCD, IT Tralee and Trinity were all 425 points. “It is clear at this stage that the only way forward is to allow the 13 nursing schools to …

NEARLY three quarters of homes in Kilkee are empty while more than one third of all properties in West and North Clare are unoccupied, Clare County Council heard this week. More than 36% of the houses in the West Clare Municipal District were registered as unoccupied in April 2011, according to census data outlined at Monday’s local authority meeting. According to the figures, of the 20,427 houses in the West Clare municipal district 7,426 of them were recorded as unoccupied. The information was circulated to the council members on foot of a motion submitted by Councillor Gabriel Keating. Councillor Keating called on Clare County Council to report on the number of unoccupied houses in the West Clare Municipal District as of census 2011 indicating the number per electoral district saying these unoccupied houses could be utilised to regenerate rural communities. Responding to the motion Gerard Dollard, Director of Service outlined that 36.4% of the 20,247 dwellings that formed the new …

KILKEE businessman Johnny Redmond has reacted angrily to Councillor Gabriel Keating’s suggestion that business in the town remains unaffected by the yet to be repaired damage to the seawall and parts of the Strand Line. Kilkee was extensively damaged during Storm Darwin last February. The road in front of his business is remains impassable. “The Strand Bistro and Restaurant is currently located at what I would call Ground Zero. Left and right of me the roads are completely closed. I have absolutely no passing trade or won’t have passing trade for the whole summer,” Johnny Redmond said on Wednesday. However Councillor Keating said that he feels the damage in Kilkee is not affecting business. “It’s not going to affect the business of Kilkee in my book or the people of Kilkee,” he maintained. “Gabriel Keating has some cheek to say that it’s not going to affect business in the town. How would he know about the impact of this on …