Tag Archives: clare county council

CLARE County Council has been asked to conduct a thorough planning review concerning the start of civil engineering works for a €20 million windfarm amid claims it constituted unauthorised development. Councillor PJ Kelly has called on chief executive officer, Tom Coughlan, to conduct a review into how a windfarm company, Tullabrack Energy Limited, was allowed to start work on its site in  Tullabrack in West Clare despite a series of written warnings about its alleged non-compliance with planning conditions. The Lissycasey councillor wants a review to establish whether or not planning laws were administered in accordance with proper procedure and to put the necessary structures in place to ensure there is no repetition of “administrative confusion”. “It seems that one section of the council doesn’t know what the other section is doing. There is a management deficit and I am calling on Mr Coughlan to intervene,” he said. A seven-day commencement notice for an ESB substation on the site came …

THE steps at Blake’s Corner in Ennistymon will not be back-filled, it emerged this week, after Clare County Council withdrew its Part 8 application to carry out the works at the contentious junction. The reason for the withdrawal, according to the county’s senior engineer, is that it would probably have been refused “as such a development would contravene the council’s own Development Plan”. Local Councillor Bill Slattery is livid at what he sees as a council u-turn on the issue. “After getting confirmation from Clare County Council that the Part 8 planning application would not proceed because it would contravene the County Development Plan, I was very annoyed and disappointed,” he said. “I am in the council four and a half years and after being selected to replace Senator Martin Conway, I immediately asked for the steps to be back-filled for the safety of pedestrians and motorists. I felt this request would have been adhered to due to the severe …

A NORTH Clare couple and their four young children are among the 6,239 people currently seeking accommodation in Clare. James Sherlock and his partner, Caroline Sherlock, have been living in a caravan at the front of Caroline’s family’s home in Ennistymon for the past year and a half. Now with four children, aged between four years and four weeks, the couple are at their wits’ end. “We have to go into my parents’ house to use the toilet, the shower and to do any cooking. Even at night, if my daughter wants to go to the toilet, we have to go out in the rain to get to the toilet in the house,” Caroline outlined. The family found this summer especially difficult because of the wet weather and are dreading the winter. “Like all children, they just want to play outside but, basically, they have been stuck in here,” Caroline said, indicating the one-room caravan. The caravan does not have …

A whale that washed up on the North Clare coast last week will be left for “nature to take its course”, Clare County Council has confirmed. The body of the 6m-long adult female minke whale washed up on the Liscannor shore on Wednesday last. “In terms of disposal, that would normally fall under the local authority. This whale would be difficult to recover because it is a stony beach so you can’t bury it and it would be hard to bring it out. “It is not near houses and it is not on a popular beach so it is not a health hazard but we would still advise people not to touch it. It is expensive to recover whales and take them to an incinerator so we would see it as a waste of resources when it is not posing a risk,” Simon Berrow, chief science officer of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said (IWDG). According to the local authority, …

A PLANNING application has been submitted by Tesco Ireland Ltd for a four-island petrol filling station in Kilrush, which would include a shop and a forecourt and the addition of a three-armed internal mini-roundabout. The planning application was received by Clare County Council on July 29 and also seeks permission for underground storage tanks, a circulation area, “access and egress provisions, advertising signage, modifications and relocation of permitted totem, provision for air and water, landscaping, boundary treatment and all associated site development works”. Additional works that are also listed include the reorganisation of part of the existing car park to accommodate the proposed development. In November 2008, Kilrush Town Council granted planning permission to Tesco to build the four-island petrol station. However, Kilrush traders appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanála. In 2009, An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission for the petrol station because of traffic safety and access concerns. Planning permission had twice been granted by Clare County Council, …

CLARE County Council has issued a reminder to farmers of the importance of only employing the services of correctly authorised waste collectors, who hold a valid and current waste collection permit. The local authority notes it is a legal requirement for any person or company involved in the collection of waste, such as farm plastics and scrap metal, to hold a waste collection permit.It also says that authorised waste collectors are also required to provide a collection permit to a farmer prior to waste being collected and removed from a farm. Waste collection permits contain a unique waste collection permit reference number, the name and address of the collector, the waste types the collector is permitted to collect, the registration details of each vehicle involved in the collection service, and the name and address of the authorised waste facility where waste is to be delivered. In addition, the waste collection permit reference number must be clearly displayed on the cab …

AN Ennis father has told of how his family spent Tuesday night sleeping in their car, after being made homeless. John Sweeney and his family have refused an offer by Clare County Council of a house in Kilrush, resulting in a refusal of welfare assistance for emergency accommodation. However, Mr Sweeney claims that the accommodation offer was refused out of fear, alleging he was threatened in Kilrush. He said the family, including seven children ranging in age from 12 years to five weeks, would “be walking into danger” if they moved back to Kilrush and he is appealing for the council to house them in Ennis. When contacted by The Clare Champion with Mr Sweeney’s claims, a spokesperson for Clare County Council stated the local authority does not comment on individual cases. The Department of Social Protection also responded that they do not comment on individual cases. “We didn’t take the house on the grounds of protecting me and my …

MARY Crawford, a member of the national Fianna Fáil 1916 Coiste, has appealed to people in the county to contact the party, if they are interested in having their family members recognised for their roles in that era. “One of the things that Fianna Fáil hopes to do in every county is to get a list of people who were involved in the era 1916 to 1923 or who had relatives involved and who would like to be part of this commemoration. “We are trying to build up a bank of names of people who were involved in the period and to recognise their contribution,” Ms Crawford explained, stressing that the initiative applied to all people, whatever their role. “A medallion will be presented to the families to mark their contribution. Any information we get, I’ll be handing it over to Helen Walsh of Clare County Council. We’ll work with any groups. There are a lot of groups trying to …