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Clare County Council expects to spend €100,000 more than it takes in next year on two sets of public toilets at opposite ends of the county. The local authority paid out €98,378 in 2012 keeping the toilets open at Kilkee and Killaloe, while only about €2,000 was recouped from users.The way the council reported this year’s figures prompted one local representative to ask if the toilets were even being used. Councillor Brian Meaney pointed to figures in the draft 2013 budget showing in excess of €98,000 had been paid by the council in 2012 to keep the toilets open. While €1,500 was expected to be recouped, the expenditure and income for 2013 and estimated Outturn for 2012 document appeared to indicate that no money had been taken in. “The council expected €1,500 from that but there was no income. Were they even used? They represent an expenditure of €98,378 and it appears that nobody spent a penny, literally,” Councillor Meaney …

University College Dublin will pay tribute to the late President of Ireland, Dr Patrick J Hillery when a lecture theatre is named in his honour this Thursday.Dr Hillery, who died on April 12, 2008, his former Fianna Fáil ministerial colleague Dr James Ryan and Kathleen Lynn, who commanded City Hall during the Easter Rising and founded St Ultan’s Hospital in 1919, will have separate lecture theatres named in their memory.Dr Hillery graduated from UCD with a degree in medicine in 1947. The Spanish Point man was a TD, government minister and Ireland’s first European Commissioner before serving two terms as President of Ireland up to 1990.His son, John, said it was a great honour for the family to have a national facility named in his honour.“It is a great tribute to him to be honoured in this way. Paddy was a great student and he left UCD with the aim of returning as a GP to West Clare. He never …

CLARE’S commercial water rates are the third highest in the country, despite the same formula being used to calculate charges in each local authority area. While some local representatives expressed their dissatisfaction at the cost of non-domestic water charges here, one councillor defended them, saying quality water Is “worth the price”.The issue was raised at a meeting of Clare County Council this week at which the budget for 2013 was passed. Councillor Brian Meaney pointed out, “County Clare has the third highest water charges per m3 in the country and I know every councillor here has had representations on this”. He said the charge Is particularly difficult to justify when compared to neighbouring counties. The Green Party councillor asked for “an understandable explanation for the charge so councillors can defend the charge or look at how it could be reduced”.The local authority’s head of Transportation, Water Services and Environment, Ann Haugh explained the mechanism Clare County Council uses to set …

THE prospect of strike action at Shannon Airport has receded this week, following a meeting between SIPTU and Transport Minister Leo Varadkar on Tuesday.Following the announcement of the separation of Shannon from the Dublin Airport Authority, workers voted for strike action, demanding guarantees on their future following the split.However, speaking to The Clare Champion on Wednesday, SIPTU official Tony Carroll said he felt the meeting had gone quite well and they are expecting to get some assurances in writing.“He’s to send us a letter giving us the answers to what we asked him about. I can’t say I’m optimistic until I see the letter but I’d imagine that a lot of what we’re looking for will be in it,” said Mr Carroll.He said Minister Varadkar was relatively positive during the discussions. “He said he would get the letter to us because we’re meeting our members tomorrow [Thursday]. I told him we’d need it by then if we were to take …

THE threat of being issued with a parking fine, while dropping or collecting their children from St Senan’s National School in Kilrush, continues to hang over at least 150 parents on a daily basis.Double yellow lines were put in place outside the primary school last September and Councillor Tom Prendeville says the town council is currently turning a “blind eye” to parking on the lines. He raised the ongoing issue at last week’s Kilrush Town Council meeting.“At the moment, there has been no fine meted out but it could happen in the future. The council said it was for the regulation of traffic but the point that I put to them is how could you have regulation of traffic outside a school where parents are dropping off kids? There isn’t even a drop-off zone. “The council were quoting the Road Traffic Act but the bottom line is parents have to drop off kids. There should be a set-down area but …

SOME 57 jobs are to go from Shannon as Aer Lingus maintenance workers have agreed to accept a proposal from the LRC, which will facilitate the airline’s decision to move maintenance operations to Dublin.It is understood the ballot of Unite members passed quite comprehensively. Aer Lingus machinery has been moved out of the hangar in Shannon this week and work has been greatly scaled down.Under the agreement, there will be around 13 positions ­remaining at Shannon, with the other 57 going to Dublin.However, there will not be compulsory redundancies and workers will be given a chance to work in Dublin for a period of time before making a final decision on their future. If they decide not to move to Dublin on a permanent basis, they will still be able to avail of a redundancy package.It’s understood that TransAero are set to take over the hangar that has been used by Aer Lingus. Some workers are also speaking to the …

THE Government this week announced it won’t sell the State’s 25% share in Aer Lingus to Ryanair, something that has been welcomed by Clare County Councillor Sean McLoughlin. He feels a Ryanair takeover would see Shannon lose its Heathrow connectivity for the second time since 2007.In a statement on Tuesday, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said the Government won’t sell to Ryanair. “The Government remains committed to the sale of the stake in Aer Lingus at the right time under the right conditions. However, the Government is not prepared to support any offer that would significantly undermine connectivity or competitiveness for Ireland.  “Based on what is now in the public domain, the Ryanair remedies package does not satisfy our concerns about connectivity, competitiveness or employment for Ireland. Obviously, the European Commission will make its own decision in its own time but we do not see any benefit to Ireland in what has been reported.”However, Ryanair said its bid to take over …

THIS week’s Clare County Council budget document shows that by the end of 2012, the local authority expects to have spent over €630,000 on the maintenance and management of Traveller accommodation.The council had budgeted a sum of €435,000 for these purposes but the actual amount is going to be far higher, coming in at more than €12,000 per week.The council has budgeted €443,000 for the same purposes in 2013 but a number of councillors claim the amount of spending has been excessive in recent times.Councillor Patricia McCarthy is chairperson of the council’s Housing, Social and Cultural Policy Committee and she outlined developments in housing over the last 12 months and plans for the future.Regarding Traveller accommodation, the budget document stated, “The 2013 budget includes the sum of €249k in respect of maintenance of 11 group schemes in the county. The legal costs provision for 2013 has been maintained at the 2012 level to fund the cost of defending against ongoing …