Tag Archives: Joe Arkins

  Twenty eight former local authority members who retired or lost their seats will receive gratuity payments totalling €671,842, subject to their individual tax liabilities. According to figures obtained by the Clare Champion, former Mayor of Clare, Councillor Patricia McCarthy, will receive the highest gratuity payment worth €61,781 after 35 years of local authority service on the county council and Shannon Town Council. In fact, three former first citizens, Councillor McCarthy, Councillor Tommy Brennan and Councillor Joe Arkins will be paid gratuity payments totalling €169, 320. Ten former Clare County Councillors, who are over 50 years of age, will collect gratuity payments totalling €412,953, giving an average payout of €42,115. They include Councillors Patricia McCarthy, Tommy Brennan, Sonny Scanlan and Michael Kelly, who bowed out after the local elections as well as Joe Arkins, Pat Keane, Pascal Fitzgerald, Oliver Garry, Tony Mulqueen and Sean McLoughlin, who failed to get re-elected. Eighteen former town councillors in Ennis, Shannon, Kilrush and Kilkee will …

It was the end of a three-term 15-year stint in the council for Ruan’s Joe Arkins when he handed over the mayoral chain he has worn for the past year at the Clare County Council annual general meeting last week. When Mr Arkins lost his seat in the May local election he was widely seen as a victim of the redrawing of the electoral area boundaries. It was therefore poignant that as out-going mayor, he paid tribute “to the fallen.” “To Pat Keane, Oliver Garry, Brian Meaney, Pascal Fitzgerald, Tony Mulqueen, Sean McLoughlin who along with the retirees have given nearly two centuries of service, I want to acknowledge their service and their contribution to their respective communities and to county Clare and to wish each and every one of them the very best in the future,” he said. The former councillor complimented his retired colleagues and congratulated the newly-elected members “especially the three lady councillors. Patricia [McCarthy] was the …

A negotiating team representing the political parties and independents on the new 28-member Clare County Council will meet for the eighth time this Wednesday evening to try to broker an agreement on the rotation of  the Mayor of Clare position. The situation must be resolved in this for the annual general meeting of the council on this Friday afternoon. In the past, the post of Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council was retained within the majority party but for the past decade or so, the position [now mayor] has rotated among parties and independents. The outgoing mayor, Joe Arkins lost his seat in the recent local elections, an outcome that was due in no small measure to the redrawing of the electoral areas. It is understood that Fianna Fáil will have two terms  and at the crux of the matter is how to strike a balance of sharing the role of mayor between the seven independent, joined with the one Sinn Féin councillor, …

Mayor of Clare, Councillor Joe Arkins was “disappointed” but not bitter over his shock exit from the local authority in the early hours of Saturday night. Councillor Arkins was eliminated after the seventh count in the Killaloe Municipal District with 1,116 votes. In fact, the outgoing mayor showed he hadn’t lost his sharp wit and humour, despite being the highest profile casualty of the 2014 Local Election. “I think my wife is at home at the moment writing up a list of jobs for me to do that have not been attended to for the last 15 years,” he joked. Next week he plans to be busy with the Fleadh Cheoil and has other duties he hopes to catch up on over the coming months. The outgoing Fine Gael Councillor could have lashed out at the party hierarchy over its vote management in East Clare and its failure to carve up the area between their three candidates -poll topper, Joe Cooney …

In the Killaloe area, Joe Cooney of Fine Gael , as expected, will be comfortably elected, as will Independent Michael Begley.  Next home will be Tony O Brien, Fianna Fail and Pat Hayes of Fianna Fail. At this stage, it appears that outgoung Mayor of Clare Joe Arkins of Fine Gael will have a fight on his hands to retain his seat. Liam Wiley, Fianna Fail and Pat Burke of Fine Gael are among those who will be in contention for the remaining seats. [doptg id=”14″]

MAYOR of Clare Joe Arkins said he has decided he will never willingly go back for treatment at the emergency department in University Hospital Limerick. At a meeting of Clare County Council, the mayor said he had spent a night and a day on a trolley in the hospital and that he “decided I’d never be there again if I was conscious”. He made his comments as the council passed a motion calling on the Minister for Health, the HSE and the management of University Hospital Limerick to intervene to stop overcrowding in the emergency department and to stop people being kept on trolleys for long periods of time. The motion was put down by Fianna Fáil’s Pat Hayes, who said the current situation is “a total disgrace” and that there had not been proper preparation for scaling back at Ennis and Nenagh. He claimed when the Minister for Health made a visit there, people on trolleys were moved into …

A NEW service for supporting Clare businesses has become operational in Ennis this week with hopes high that it will “harness innovation, grow businesses and create jobs locally.” The new Clare Local Enterprise Office (LEO) is based at Clare County Council’s headquarters, Áras Contae an Chláir and represents a major restructuring of state support for businesses which was previously delivered by county and city enterprise boards. Combining the resources of the Clare County Enterprise Board and Clare County Council’s business support unit, the Clare LEO is one of 31 LEOs around Ireland that is tasked with delivering services and support to businesses within a framework set by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and overseen by Enterprise Ireland. Mayor of Clare Councillor Joe Arkins said the Clare LEO will act as a “first-stop-shop” for small businesses throughout the county. He added, “I look forward to the newly operational LEO playing a leading role in stimulating enterprise development in Clare. …

THE chairperson of Moynalty Tidy Towns Committee, the overall winner of the 2013 National Tidy Towns competition, will be among the guest speakers at an information gathering of  local Tidy Towns groups this Thursday  in Áras Contae an Chláir. The event is jointly hosted by Clare County Council and Clare Local Development Company (CLDC) and will acknowledge the positive work that Tidy Towns groups are doing across the county, in a voluntary capacity, to enhance the county’s towns and villages. Speakers will include Tom Coughlan, Clare county manager; Lorraine Power, environmental consultant and Tidy Towns adjudicator; Gloria Callinan, projects coordinator, CLDC; and Peter Rogers, chairperson of Moynalty Tidy Towns. The evening will conclude with a questions and answers session which will enable groups to raise any issues in relation to the Tidy Towns competition. “This event provides me, in my role as Mayor of Clare, with a real opportunity to acknowledge the positive work that is taking place by these …