Tag Archives: clare county council

A TOTAL €20.3 million in arrears of rates, water charges, housing rents and housing loan repayments was owed to Clare County Council at the end of 2013. The council’s unaudited Annual Financial Statement for 2013 also shows that the local authority ended the year with a €643,000 surplus on a total revenue expenditure of circa €104.4 million. The last time the council recorded a surplus of €72,000 was in 2012 and up to then there was a period of deficits. Of the rates arrears totalling €8.9 million at the year end, the sum of €0.7 million was collected in the first three months of 2014; €1.7 million refers to vacant properties and amounts owed by companies in receivership, examinership or liquidation.

WITH just a week to polling day for the local and European elections, this week’s Clare Champion presents the full line-up of candidates and addresses the issues facing them on the canvass trail.  We have a special 24-page supplement focusing on the battle for the 28 seats on Clare County Council, while the European elections are covered in the main body of the paper. Make sure to get your copy of The Clare Champion this week; it will help you make up you mind on who to vote for on Friday, May 23.

UP to  a quarter of Councillor Cathal Crowe’s election posters have been removed or stolen in his constituency since April 23. Councillor Crowe  intends to report the matter to gardaí, as he believes it is not just natural wastage, but rather a targeted operation to cut down and remove his election posters. “Close on 45 or 50 have come down. I’ve about 200 up. They are not just mine that are coming down but, certainly, a lot of mine have come down.  “The same evening some of mine came down, some of Councillor John Crowe’s were also taken down. The posters are €7 a piece, so I’m going to the gardaí to report them stolen.” He explained his posters were taken down at the last election but put back up afterwards, so he would be subject to a litter fine of €150 per poster. I’m going to report them stolen for two reasons, so the gardaí might keep an eye out for …

NON party candidate Joseph Enright, who is from Kilrush and lives in Kilmihil, is the 16th candidate to declare for the local elections on May 23, in the enlarged West Clare constituency. He declared for election on Friday, May 2. The 16 candidates will vie for eight seats. The former Garda sergeant has an avid interest in the Irish language and is chairperson of Coiste Forbartha Gaeltachta Chontae an Chláir. He says that he is conscious of poverty of depopulation in west Clare though emigration, which Mr Enright claims is “due to a lack of sufficient investment in west Clare, going back to 1922.” The election candidate is calling the economic situation in west Clare “Operation Catch Up.”

MINISTER for Housing Jan O’Sullivan will address a meeting in Ennis  today ( Friday), hosted by the Clare Citizen Information Service along with the Alliance of Social Protection of Recipients. The minister will speak on the recent funding allocations and plans for the future. The event has been organised to look at the key issues that need to change in order for those in the rental market to be able to source suitable and adequate accommodation that meet the required standards. Dermot Hayes of the Alliance of Social Protection Recipients said, “With almost 4,000 people on the housing list in Clare and a growing population we need to put in place a strong and sustainable strategy.” While Paul Woulfe of the Citizen Information Services added, “The rent allowance needs to be reviewed and restructured to bring it in line with the current market rental rates in order to avoid homelessness and couch surfing’’. Other’s to address the meeting will be: …

THE abolishment of Kilrush Town Council will result in a €1m revenue loss to the West Clare capital over five years, outgoing member, Councillor Ian Lynch, has claimed. Town councils are to be abolished after the May 23 Local Elections and, in fact, the last Kilrush Town Council meeting will be held next Thursday. The town council was established in 1885. “Six people will no longer be working in the Kilrush office because of the local government reform,” said Councillor Lynch, who is an independent candidate. “The Government’s plan to reform local government, which they call Putting People First, will have a detrimental effect on the town of Kilrush. The implementation of the plan by Clare County Council, will see a reduction of council employees working in Kilrush and a loss of up to €1m, which will no longer be spent in the West Clare economy.” Councillor Lynch claimed the average weekly spend of a family with two children reaches …

By Peter O’Connell CITING “family considerations” for his decision not to contest the forthcoming county council election, current Kilrush Town councillor, Tom Prendeville  is to retire from public office at the end of May, after almost 30 years in local politics. The Fianna Fáil councillor’s rejection at local convention, and subsequently not being added to the party ticket, had heightened speculation that he would enter the field as an Independent candidate. However, he is insistent that his own personal preference would have been to stand for re-election but that “I had to bow, however reluctantly, to family matters.” A poll-topper in his first election to Kilrush Urban Council in 1985, he was elected to Clare County Council in 1991 and held his seat until 2009. In his dual urban and county mandate, he wore the town mayoral chain of office for three terms. Councillor Prendeville is adamant that his greatest achievement in public life was the All Saints Shanakyle Cemetery …

By Peter O’Connell CLARE County Council has appointed retired South Tipperary county manager, Ned O’Connor and retired Cork county engineer, Ned Flynn to carry out an independent investigation into the council’s dumping of asbestos at a number of sites in West Clare. The duo have already visited the asbestos dump sites with Clare council engineers. News of the dumping of asbestos was revealed in The Clare Champion back in March and in a statement to The Champion on Wednesday, Clare County Council said phase one of the work to remove asbestos is substantially complete. “Tenders for phase two works are to be returned next week and then assessed by Clare County Council and then phase two works will proceed,” the statement added. The council is unable to give an approximate timescale as to when the investigation and clean-up will be complete. “The independent investigation is underway and it will be a matter for the investigation team to inquire into the …