Regional

THE National Roads Authority has “had difficulty” concluding the Public Private Partnership contract for the Gort to Tuam bypass due to the country’s financial insecurity, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has stated.Minister Leo Varadkar was responding to questions posed by Labour TD Colm Keaveney.“The N17-N18 Gort to Tuam project is being tendered by the NRA as a public private partnership, (PPP) but due to concern in the capital markets regarding Ireland’s overall financial situation, the NRA has had difficulty concluding this PPP contract,” Minister Varadkar stated.Deputy Keaveney said he had met with the minister “regarding concerns at unhelpful commentary in the national media about the future viability of the Gort to Tuam bypass”.“The Gort to Tuam scheme is being tendered by the National Roads Authority as a PPP. As such, we are reliant on private sector funding for the construction and for its operation. The contract for this critical infrastructure should have been awarded in 2010 and the …

A PROPERTY developer is appealing Clare County Council’s request for a development contribution of almost €125,000 in respect of a proposal to complete a housing scheme in Kilkishen on the basis it amounts to “double charging”.Jim Woods Building Contractor Ltd, based in Newmarket-on-Fergus, was granted planning permission to construct 16 houses at the Cluain na Laoi estate in Kilkishen on March 30 last.The local authority attached 24 planning conditions to the grant of planning permission and condition 24 forms the subject of an appeal to An Bórd Pleanála by the applicant.This condition requires the developer to pay a contribution of €124,984.32 in respect of public infrastructure and facilities benefiting the development.In an appeal document lodged with An Bord Pleanála, the applicant claims the development contribution levied amounts to “double charging” as “development contributions have already been paid in full under the terms of a previous planning permission”.The applicant explained in the appeal document that the 16 units for which planning …

It is expected the people of Ennis will see activity on site in respect of phase two of the Ennis Flood Relief Works by mid to late September “nearly the second anniversary of the flooding in Ennis”, it has been revealed. A motion was tabled at the Ennis West Electoral Area meeting on Monday by Councillor Tony Mulqueen calling for the proposed start date for phase two of these relief works. Responding to the motion, Eamon O’Dea, senior executive engineer, explained that works were “expected to begin by September” but this expected start date could “go up or down by a half a month on either side”. “The OPW will be forwarding the confirmation documents for the River Fergus Lower (Ennis) Certified Drainage Scheme to the Department of Finance before the end of May. It is anticipated that the confirmation documents will be returned to the OPW before the end of June and the required tender procedures will take a …

A COMMEMORATIVE garden dedicated to all those who suffered abuse in childhood was officially opened this week in the grounds of Ennis Town Council’s offices at Waterpark House.The garden, which features a central piece of sculpture by acclaimed artist Michael McTigue, was launched by Mayor of Ennis Councillor Tommy Brennan.The sculpture depicts words from the poem Lyric number 38 written by the late Clare poet Brendan O’Beirne. The inscription reads “Confront the footsteps behind you”, with the footprints incorporated into the table-like sculpture.Attending the launch was Deirdre O’Beirne, sister of Brendan, who said, “I think it’s fantastic that his poem has been used for this garden, he would have been so thrilled. Brendan lived in Drumbiggle in a council flat and he would be over here every week paying his rent so he often sat here. Those lines are very appropriate to this work, they can mean so much to anybody.”Brendan’s poem was among a number of works submitted by …

Years of speculation about a proposed extension of Limerick City’s boundary into South-East Clare is expected to finally come to an end when the new Environment Minister, Phil Hogan, issues his decision on the controversial findings of an independent report.Minister Hogan told a delegation of Clare County Council members and officials on Friday last that he planned to make a decision on this political hot potato before the Dáil summer recess early in July.Clare Against the Boundary Extension (CABE) and other community groups have vigorously opposed plans to transfer over 3,000 people from Shannon Banks, Westbury and parts of Clonlara in to an expanded Limerick City.This was one of the recommendations of the Limerick Local Government Report, chaired by Denis Brosnan. The report also proposed that Limerick City and County Councils be amalgamated to form one local authority with an estimated saving of €20 million.Last week’s delegation was organised after Killaloe Electoral Area chairman, Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald, tabled a motion …

WITH the election of Tony Mulcahy to the Seanad, opportunity may be about to knock for Sean McLoughlin. Councillor McLoughlin was heavily involved with his party colleague’s bids for election to both the Dáil and the Seanad. Now, with Senator Mulcahy going to the upper house, he may take his seat on Clare County Council.The abolition of the so-called dual mandate some years ago means that a member of the Oireachtas cannot sit on a county council or a town council and so Fine Gael will co-opt new members.Following Mulcahy’s election, McLoughlin threw his hat into the ring. In a statement, the two-time Mayor of Shannon congratulated the new Senator and announced his interest in taking the county council seat.“Seventeen years ago in Shannon the Fine Gael branch reformed. I was proud to be a member of that group. That branch has performed well, subsequently ensuring a greater vote and representation for the party in all elections. This success has …

A PUBLIC meeting will be held in McNamara’s Bar in Scariff on Monday next to discuss the proposed closure of the local Teagasc centre at the end of the year. According to local county councillor, Joe Cooney, the Teagasc office in Scariff is to be closed at the end of 2011 ending over 100 years of this advisory service in the region. This proposed closure has arisen due to government cutbacks in the body’s funding as well as the recruitment ban imposed on the public service and has lead to the decision in 2009, by Teagasc, to undertake a process of closing regional offices. Councillor Cooney has stated that this decision “should be subject to substantial review”.Teagasc is proposing to relocate the services offered at its Scariff office into its facility in Ennis by 2012 but the move is being opposed by local representatives who have acknowledged the need for the office to remain in situ.The Scariff office has 450 …

THE Knockanean National School Building Project has raised over €50,000 in just over six months, it has been announced in the run-up to the launch of the school’s new fundraising CD.The school has been granted planning permission for a four-classroom extension, however, a grant from the Department of Education will not fully cover the cost of the extension and the school’s fundraising committee has been hard at work in recent months coming up with ideas to raise additional funding. While the figure of €50,000 is a massive achievement for the school, it is still half of the €100,000 needed for the extension.The committee ishopeful that the launch of the CD Starlings, featuring over 100 children along with parents and guest musicians, will boost their fundraising even further.According to Caroline Purcell of the fundraising committee, “Raising this much money in this space of time is just tremendous, people have been just fantastic supporting all of the events that we have done. …