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Regional

Mid-West Area Strategic Plan deems Ennis a ‘backwater’

ENNIS has been dismissed as a “backwater” in the Mid-West Area Strategic Plan (MWASP) in terms of the county capital’s future economic development, it has been claimed. Councillor Johnny Flynn has described as “frightening” that the strategy sees Ennis’ potential for jobs as only being in domestic, traded services and tourism areas. He believes this could preclude other industries from deciding to locate to Ennis.  He was speaking as he highlighted the unemployment “crisis” in Ennis at a meeting of councillors within the Ennis East electoral area this week. However, calls by Councillor Flynn for the establishment of an Ennis and Environs Economic Task Force to be set up have been rejected.At this week’s meeting, Councillor Flynn urged the taskforce be set up saying, “The situation is at a crisis stage, in 2002 we had 8% unemployment, now in 2012 its 14.5%. We have 4,000 extra people signing on in Ennis and the Environs and nearly two-thirds of those are …

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Beechpark residents left ‘in a limbo’, claim councillors

RESIDENTS of the Beechpark housing estate have been left “in a limbo” waiting for the development to be taken over by Clare County Council, it has been claimed.At this week’s meeting of Ennis West Electoral Area councillors, both councillors James Breen and Tony Mulqueen urged that the local authority take over the estate.According to Councillor Breen, the council have drawn down the bond on the housing development. Councillor Mulqueen criticised the amount of money spent on nearby Traveller accommodation, while Beechpark has yet to be taken over by the council.“These people are paying their household charges and they are not getting services, while across the road, there is a halting site costing huge money,” he said.Councillor Breen told the meeting, “I am led to believe that the bond was drawn down a long time ago by Clare County Council. The housing estate has been left in a limbo, I see no reason why no steps have been taken to finish …

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No date for treatment plant upgrade works

IT is likely to be some time before the planned upgrade of Shannon’s Wastewater Treatment Plant will even get underway, while it also looks like funding for advance works for the Shannon Sewerage Scheme won’t be available.At this week’s meeting of local area councillors, Councillor Gerry Flynn put forward a motion asking “that the environment section of Clare County Council provide a report detailing the current situation concerning Shannon’s Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade and also advise when the planned project is likely to go ahead”.In a written reply, Anthony McNamara, senior executive engineer with the council’s Water Services Section stated, “The preliminary report, which was prepared for the council by Nicholas O’Dwyer, Consulting Engineers, was submitted to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (DEHLG) in May 2011 and is awaiting approval.“Following approval of the report, it will be necessary to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for submission to An Bord Pleanála and this process is intended …

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Chamber briefing on cross-border opportunities

THE benefits to local companies of considering cross-border business opportunities as a means of developing their business and expanding market reach is the subject of a breakfast briefing, being organised by Shannon Chamber in conjunction with InterTradeIreland.It will take place at the Radisson Blu Hotel on the Ennis Road in Limerick on Wednesday, September 26, beginning at 8.30am and will focus on the types of support that InterTradeIreland can offer SMEs at many levels.Margaret Hearty, director of programmes and business services with InterTradeIreland explained, “We are delighted to partner with Shannon Chamber to address SMEs in the Shannon area on the range of programmes open to companies to develop and strengthen their businesses. We will concentrate on three specific areas: sales and marketing; innovation and R&D and VC funding. We will show how our Acumen, Elevate and Public Procurement programmes have helped companies grow their businesses on the island of Ireland, take their business to a new level and get …

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Potential investors lined up for Tinarana

THREE investors have expressed an interest in paying up to €2 million to purchase the Tinarana Estate on the outskirts of Ogonnelloe.Tom Crosse of GVM Auctioneers, Limerick, has revealed there has been a very good level of interest and ongoing viewings from potential investors for the house, which sits on 222 acres of land.Pressed about possible buyers who had made offers very close to the €2m guide price, Mr Crosse confirmed one of the three main bidders has local and international business interests. “The Tinarana Estate has a lot of development potential for someone to take it on as a major project and develop it over the years. It has an aura of magnificence and could be something really special,” he said.Clare County Council is supporting the principle of a major tourism development in the well-known Ogonnelloe estate, despite a ruling from An Bord Pleanála, which turned down a €100m project.One of the tourism objectives contained in the new Clare …

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Prefab rental bill could reach €120,000 for two schools

TWO national schools could be paying in the region of €120,000 for eight prefabricated classrooms, it emerged this week.Last summer, Clare Labour Deputy Michael McNamara announced the Department of Education had approved funding to construct three new classrooms at Meelick National School, which now has eight teachers and about 183 pupils.Education Minister Ruairí Quinn requested a detailed report on the state of conditions at the school following serious health and safety concerns raised by Deputy McNamara and Deputy Pat Breen.Earlier this year, funding was allocated to Parteen National School, where Councillor Cathal Crowe currently teaches, to cover the costs of building two new classrooms.  This good news came as part of a €34 million nationwide initiative to replace rented prefab classrooms with permanent structures. Parteen National School currently has five prefabs. While these classrooms are suitable for purpose, Councillor Crowe insists they are no substitute for solid-walled, permanent buildings.Councillor Crowe estimates the average rental cost of a standard 80m2 prefab …

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Special needs pupils reap benefits of new room at Tulla

ALTHOUGH St Joseph’s Secondary School, Tulla awaits the development of its new school, the facility has this year benefitted from an additional class, which will cater for the needs of six new students with special needs. St Joseph’s has an existing Asperger’s Syndrome Unit in the school but this school term a second class was established to cater for the growing need in the school’s catchment area. It is one of the few schools in the country to benefit from the establishment of a new classroom for students with special needs. School principal Margaret O’Brien outlined that students with Asperger’s syndrome have varying needs and this new facility will help best suit the needs of the individual students benefiting from it. “Some students with this classification would be high functioning and need more support. We also wanted to accommodate some senior students and that’s why we have a new senior unit this year. We would have had some students who …

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Inconvenience for residents at Spancilhill regrettable, says council

THE inconvenience experienced by residents waiting for the completion of improvement works on a 750m stretch of road at Spancilhill, at a cost of €2.9 million, has been deemed “regrettable” by Clare County Council this week.  The comment was made in response to a motion tabled at an Ennis East Area Meeting on Monday by Councillor Sonny Scanlon, who asked when the Spancilhill Road would be completed and reopened. He said works were “causing a lot of anger and inconvenience” to residents in the locality.  Tom Tiernan, senior engineer Clare County Council, said “the inconvenience that has been caused is regrettable”. “A number of issues have combined to create this situation, drainage management complexities, rock removal, the gradual erosion in the number of available staff and the incapacity to replace them and so on. The objective at present is to restore two-way traffic in four to six weeks from now and to have completed the project by the end of …

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