Tag Archives: clare county council

THE creator of the controversial Púca of Ennistymon has called on Clare County Council to stand behind its Arts Office who commissioned the proposed sculpture. Ahead of a review of a public consultation process, Aidan Harte, told The Champion he remains hopeful the council will back his proposals. “I think the council were slightly wrong-footed by the controversy, but there was a transparent public tender process and I think the council now need to defend the robustness of that,” he said. The preferred design was publicised last May, but within a matter of days, the public art project was ‘paused’ due to considerable local opposition. The 2-metre sculpture, proposed for Lower Church Hill, generated intense controversy at local and national level. Despite some strong opposition, the proposed half-man, half-horse secured the backing of a number of celebrities, historians, artists and folklorists, podcasters and documentary makers. The local authority has now confirmed that a consultation survey is now being examined with …

THE chair of Save Ennistymon’s Heritage insists the community has “waited long enough” for action to be taken on the infamous Blake’s Corner and is calling on Clare County Council to address the situation “urgently”. Denis Vaughan was speaking after two tourists escaped injury in recent weeks at the corner when their car mounted a wall. When contacted by The Clare Champion about the local concerns, Seán Lenihan, Senior Engineer, stated that Clare County Council is “absolutely committed to resolving the potential conflict that exists at Blakes Corner in Ennistymon”. The council are awaiting an An Bord Pleanala decision on plans to purchase land and buildings around the site to begin construction of a ‘relief road’ between the N85 and N67 Mr Vaughan recalled that the tourists’ car mounted the wall at the end of November. “Besides causing traffic chaos at the busiest corner in Ireland and creating avoidable congestion, it is clearly dangerous. “This situation is likely to continue …

THERE has been a 40% hike in the overall cost of running Clare County Council since 2018, according to an analysis of recent Budgets. The adopted Budget has increased from €111 million in 2018 to €117.5 million in 2019, €128 million in 2020, €131.4 million in 2021 and to €138.6 million in 2022. Back in 2018, Clare County Council’s commercial rate was the sixth highest in the country and looks set to climb even higher in the national league table after the decision to increase rates by 3.8% for the first time in 13 years. It has emerged that since 2014, commercial rates have increased by Ennis increase by 16.73% in Ennis and by 22.38% in Kilrush. A submission made by the council to the Local Government baseline review in 2018 highlights ”the need for change in order to bring greater balance and equity for funding for County Clare”. “Clare County Council was penalised by the Needs and Resources model …

SERIOUS questions are being raised by Gillogue residents about Clare County Council’s consent for an alleged authorised development stockpiling material at the rear of a factory compound for the long awaited €1.2 million Springfield Flood Relief Scheme. The Clare Champion has learned the planning section has opened an Unauthorised Development file and one of their enforcement officers will carry out a site investigation. Following the importation of thousands of tonnes of sub soil, Gillogue residents have asked why the county council didn’t request planning permission approval or an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Deputy Cathal Crowe has called for the transportation of this material down to the farmyard where the OPW are based in Springfield earlier than planned when schools are closed during the Christmas holidays. “It doesn’t make sense to have double movements of material, depositing it at the back of the old Burlington factory and then moving it a second time for the flood protection works. “There is ample …

A NEW draft county development plan for Clare is about to go on public display, but many members of the County Council have serious issues with it. At a special meeting of the Council on Tuesday evening, the decision was taken to move to the next phase, but several of the members insisted this didn’t mean they were happy with everything in it. There was anger about national policy which provides certain targets for Clare’s population growth, which they feel are too low for the county, and have the potential to stymie its development. There is also concern about inability to zone areas for development where sewerage systems aren’t in place, with a fear that certain rural areas will not have the chance to reach their potential. At Tuesday’s meeting Councillor Tony O’Brien said that moving to the next stage of the plan “does not indicate agreement with the entire contents, that goes without saying”. He warned that there could …

WATER mains in Ennis described as “problematic” by Irish Water, are being replaced this month. Irish Water, in partnership with Clare County Council, is replacing the water mains in Tobarteascáin with the national utility saying the works will improve water quality and provide a more reliable supply. The upgrade involves the replacement of over 740m of problematic water mains with new modern pipes. The programme to replace the water mains in Tobarteascáin will commence in mid-November and is being carried out as part of Irish Water’s National Leakage Reduction Programme. The works will also involve laying new water service connections from the public water main in the road to customers’ property boundaries and connecting it to the customers’ water supply. Where the existing service connections on the public side are made from lead, these will be replaced as part of this improvement work. Outlining the benefits that the mains replacement will bring, Gerry O’Donnell from Irish Water, explained, “The upgrading …

FRUSTRATION has been voiced in Shannon after it emerged that Clare County Council turned down an offer from the private sector valued at €10 million to develop the so called Venue facility in the town. While it is Clare’s second largest town and is home to much of the county’s industry, there is a strong feeling in Shannon that it does not have the level of facilities it should have. Development of The Venue, which would have been a multifunctional civic and arts space in the centre of the town, was being pursued by a local non-profit group for a number of years to help redress the local facilities deficit. At a public meeting last week organised by the Love Shannon Community Council there was much frustration that the €10 million offer, from unnamed private sources, did not come to pass, apparently because the County Council would have been left with an ongoing €250,000 bill for its running. It is …

DECLINING water quality across Clare will be addressed in a new draft plan for the management of river basins, councillors have been told.  An overview of the process of creating a new plan for the period 2022 to 2027 was presented at a meeting of the council’s committee on Physical Development last week.  Community Water Officer for the South West, Ruairí Ó Conchúir outlined how views are being sought across the county which will feed into a national plan for protecting Ireland’s water bodies. Outlining the situation in this county, Mr Ó Conchúir noted that the percentage of ‘high status’ waterways here have fallen from 14% to 3% between 2013 and 2018. In addition, the number of water bodies rated as being in poor condition also increased by a third since 2017 “We have seen improvements in the worst of the worst, and decline in the best of the best,” he said. He added that the biggest pressures on rivers …