Tag Archives: clare county council

Plans for a park and ride facility to serve people going to the Cliffs of Moher have stalled. Clare County Council decided not to extend the period of planning permission for the car park at Liscannor. In July, Lazarus Investments Limited applied to the local authority to extend the permission, which was granted in 2009 and will cease to have effect on January 2, 2015. An initial application was made in May and refused at the end of June. The reasons given for this were disputed by a planning firm, acting on behalf of the Lazarus Investments Ltd, in a letter accompanying the July application. The letter said the applicant received legal advice that the decision was “erroneous, fundamentally flawed and that there are very strong grounds to judicially review the decision”. It went on to say the application was being relodged, to “give the planning authority an opportunity to rectify their apparent errors and to grant planning permission”. Last …

Clare primary and secondary schools are being invited to participate in a course aimed at encouraging them to reduce their energy use and save money on their energy bills. The Clare Education Centre, Clare County Council and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) are collaborating to run an Energy Management Course on Monday, October 20 and Monday, November 10. Teachers have to signal their interest by 5pm this Friday. Pat Hanrahan, director of the Clare Education Centre said, “We look forward to hosting the course at our offices in Ennis. The course will see participants being guided step-by-step through the energy management process from understanding bills and energy use in the school to developing and implementing an energy saving plan. The course will also feed into the Green Schools Programme.” Clare Environmental Awareness Officer, Joan Tarmey added: “The course involves attending two half-day workshops where schools will be given access to a range of resources, online tools, expert advice and …

CLARE  county councillors have voted to slash the Local Property Tax (LPT) by 15% following a special meeting of theb local authority on Friday morning. An alliance of Fianna Fáil councillors and some members of the so-called Technical Group ensured the maximum reduction will be passed on to property owners in Clare next January after it was passed by 17 votes to ten. The reduction, which prompted some heated exchanges during the meeting, was supported by 11 Fianna Fáil councillors, Sinn Féin Councillor Mike McKee as well as Independents Gerry Flynn, James Breen, Ann Norton, Michael Begley and P J Ryan. Two members of the Technical Group – long serving Independent councillor Christy Curtin and Ian Lynch broke ranks by opting to oppose the cut with eight Fine Gael councillors. The council’s chief executive, Tom Coughlan told councillors in a report on the “Local Property Tax Local Adjustment Factor” a sum of €1.56 million would be available for additional services …

THE lack of suitable boating infrastructure in Kilrush and Kilkee is stunting growth opportunities in West Clare, according to a local councillor. Councillor Ian Lynch has estimated the value of the Kilkee Dive Centre is worth €250,000 for the seaside resort, while up to €500,000 could be generated through new marine-related developments in Kilrush. He has suggested Clare County Council could assist with a funding application for a multi-departmental approach to try and reap the full potential of private boating. Clare County Council has stated that, in a time of constrained funding, a very strong evidence-based case needs to be made to supply any investment applications. Councillor Lynch believes Kilrush and Kilkee are in ideal locations to maximise the private boating industry and while they are located close to each other, they would be competing for somewhat different markets. He noted the pier in Kilrush is lacking access facilities to accommodate pleasure craft and this combined with a lack of …

THERE will be no financial compensation for those affected by recent water restrictions in North and West Clare, Clare County Council and Irish Water have said. The Kildysart and Corofin public water supplies were both subject to restrictions, following separate incidents. Councillor Christy Curtin requested a report on them at a recent meeting of the West Clare Municipal Area, which now includes Corofin and other parts of North Clare. He asked that the report outline the “arrangements with Irish Water for a water rates rebate to the affected customers”. He expressed his confidence in local authority staff but said “the jury is out on Irish Water”, after a council official outlined the work carried out to monitor and restore the water supply to the two areas recently. Carmel Greene, senior executive officer at the Water Services Department in the council, gave a lengthy written response. She said that on July 29 in Kildysart, “The HSE, in conjunction with Clare County …

  Twenty eight former local authority members who retired or lost their seats will receive gratuity payments totalling €671,842, subject to their individual tax liabilities. According to figures obtained by the Clare Champion, former Mayor of Clare, Councillor Patricia McCarthy, will receive the highest gratuity payment worth €61,781 after 35 years of local authority service on the county council and Shannon Town Council. In fact, three former first citizens, Councillor McCarthy, Councillor Tommy Brennan and Councillor Joe Arkins will be paid gratuity payments totalling €169, 320. Ten former Clare County Councillors, who are over 50 years of age, will collect gratuity payments totalling €412,953, giving an average payout of €42,115. They include Councillors Patricia McCarthy, Tommy Brennan, Sonny Scanlan and Michael Kelly, who bowed out after the local elections as well as Joe Arkins, Pat Keane, Pascal Fitzgerald, Oliver Garry, Tony Mulqueen and Sean McLoughlin, who failed to get re-elected. Eighteen former town councillors in Ennis, Shannon, Kilrush and Kilkee will …

DONALD Trump is expected to be amongst the objectors to a proposed nine-turbine windfarm in Doonbeg. If Trump International Golf Links and Hotel Ireland are to object, they must do so by this Thursday, September 18. During his visit to Clare in May, Donald Trump said that windfarms “killed” tourism. “We have another issue that they want to build these ugly wind turbines all over the place. The council and mayor killed that. It is such a negative to tourism and they’ve killed that. That was a great move because it would have hurt tourism in the county. They’re being killed all over the county,” Donald Trump stated in the presence of Clare County Council representatives and the local and national media. Trump’s Doonbeg resort are fighting the proposed Clare Coastal Wind Power Ltd development, which has applied for a 10-year licence. If granted, nine wind turbines, of up to 126 metres in height, would be built in Shargh, Carrowmore …

Clare Fianna Fáil councillors are up in arms over the distribution of the Local Property Tax (LPT), following claims that €5.6 million will be used to “bail out” other “inefficient” local authorities. Councillors have criticised the transfer of over €2m from Clare County Council’s 2015 LPT allocation of €10.406m to the national equalisation fund, which, in turn, will be distributed to local authorities who don’t have a high yield from this tax. The council was urged by Councillor Cathal Crowe to consider taking a legal challenge against the proposed redistribution of another €3.597m, to self-fund local housing and roads services, at a meeting this week. Councillor Crowe felt it was important the council took a stand if the Government continue to implement its proposed “unfair distribution”, which he claimed penalises the council for being “the best in the class”, while other authorities had adopted a more “casual approach”. The political row over where the proceeds of the LPT will be …