€100,000 distributed to groups from landfill fund

IN a week when €100,000 was distributed from Inagh Landfill Community Fund, concern has been expressed that residents living closest to the Ballyduffbeg facility have benefited least financially, despite being the worst affected.

North Clare county councillors are supporting a recommendation for the allocation of €100,000 from the community landfill fund to local groups. Councillors endorsed the recommendations of the evaluation panel, who examined 11 applications for funding under the fourth tranche of community funding from the County Waste Management Facility near Inagh.

This recommendation will now be put forward for discussion at the next full Clare County Council meeting, where it is expected it will be passed, barring an unexpected hitch. However, there is still €152,000 left in the kitty for allocation, even though commercial waste is no longer being collected at the facility.

The successful seven applicants include Inagh/Kilnamona GAA Club, which will receive €40,000 to provide improved drainage for the playing surface on the pitch at Carrowkeel; the Mike McTigue Community Centre, which will receive €20,000 to refurbish the sports hall to professional standards and Inagh and District Gun Club, which receives €4,000 to purchase game birds that will be released into the wild. Inagh Development Limited got €19,000 to provide foundations for the construction of a new sports and recreation hall.

Inagh and District Angling Club will receive €9,500 to stock local lakes and rivers with brown trout, while Cloonanaha National School will get €2,500 to replace remaining single-glazed windows and the front door with 24 UPVC windows and one eco-therm door unit.

A €5,000 grant was approved for Kilnamona National School to landscape an area of waste ground beside the recently constructed school extension.

St Flannan’s National School was unsuccessful in its application for €12,800 to extend its parking facility in the school environs due to planning permission and title requirements. Father Hogan’s Kitchen made an application for €50,000 for a delivery vehicle to provide a meals-on-wheels service, part-time administrator and cook, extra equipment, office equipment and maintenance.

Residents Perry Long and John Longe applied for €34,000 in funding to provide a wind turbine at Ballyduffbeg and at Maghera respectively. However, these three applications were unsuccessful because they did not meet the criteria outlined in the guidelines for the applicants’ documentation.

Members of the independent evaluation panel included Dr Catherine Dalton, Department of Geography, Mary Immaculate College, chairperson; Gerard Kennedy, Clare Local Development Limited; Clare County Council administrative officer, Mairéad Corbett, Community Liaison as well as Monitoring Committee members, Sheila McTigue, Michael Hehir and Tom Long. The panel held five meetings and submitted formal recommendations in relation to the allocation of funds.

Senior engineer Paul Moroney confirmed at an Ennistymon Electoral Area meeting on Monday that €40,000 is being held over from the fourth tranche and when this is added to the €112,000 left over from 2009, 2010 and 2011, this leaves €152,000 for allocation in the fifth and final tranche.

The panel noted there were some matters it considered to be outside its terms of reference, which the local county councillors might want to consider.

Electoral area chairman Councillor Joe Arkins admitted the amount of money allocated to the community and residents living within 500m or 1km of the facility has been a “festering issue”.

Councillor Arkins explained the community fund should have targeted residents most affected by issues such as noise, foul smells and other issues but instead had “lost track of itself from day one”.

The Fine Gael councillor agreed with the proposal that some of the money from tranche four should be “put on ice” so the residents worst affected have some type of amelioration from the landfill.

Looking at some of the applications, Councillor Arkins wondered how some people living five or six miles away could be adversely affected by the landfill.

Councillor Michael Hillery insisted some money should be ring-fenced for people living in proximity to the landfill and proposed the guidelines should be changed to facilitate this, if necessary.

Mr Moroney said the regulations could be changed for the next round of funding, which would be presented for approval to the liaison committee and council.

Councillor Richard Nagle argued it would be helpful if the community liaison group came up with recommendations for changes in the guidelines, rather than councillors, as the former have more knowledge in this area.

Councillor Michael Kelly asked why St Flannan’s National School, Inagh didn’t manage to secure money for the provision of extra parking. Mr Moroney stated there may have been an issue about the title of land. Councillor Kelly wondered if the title issue was resolved, would the committee be able to grant funding?

Mr Moroney explained the evaluation panel has to consider a number of criteria before it can make a recommendation for funding and cannot allocate money subject to title or planning permission, which has to be in place already.

Councillor Arkins pointed out this application could be considered again in the next evaluation panel assessment because if a decision is taken now to allocate some funding, it would have to be taken from another group.