Tag Archives: clare county council

REMOTE access to meetings of Clare County Council may continue into the future, members were told, after a number of them joined the November meeting via Zoom. Standing Orders were amended to give effect to a Ministerial Order drawn up in response to Level 5 restrictions, meaning that councillors can attend meetings virtually, as necessary. “This is a historic occasion,” said the council’s Chief Executive Pat Dowling, as members including Councillors Donna McGettigan, Ian Lynch, Pat Hayes and Tony O’Brien connected by video link. Mr Dowling noted that a national template had issued to all councils and he thanked meetings coordinator Ann Reynolds for her work in facilitating the new arrangements. Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy questioned whether the arrangement was limited by time, to which Mr Dowling replied that it would be kept under review. “A number of local authorities, like those in Dublin, had been offering remote access even before Covid-19,” he noted. “It is at the discretion of …

SUPERMACS’ owner Pat McDonagh has lodged the newest planning application in a long-running attempt to develop a motorway service station on the outskirts of Ennis. A planning application has been lodged with Clare County Council for the proposed development at Kilbreckan, Doora. This is the fast-food chain’s fourth application for a Barack Obama Plaza style development adjacent to Junction 12 of the M18. Details of the proposal include the construction of a service station building with convenience shop, food court, staff facilities, canopy, fuel facilities, parking and circulation space, children’s play area, picnic area and access provision. The development application also includes plans for infrastructural works, public lighting, signage, landscaping, internal fencing, electrical substation, 16 electric car charging points, roof mounted solar panels, storm water runoff, petrol interceptors and attenuation system, on-site wastewater treatment plant including access road, pumping station and connection to public foul sewer, drainage improvement works, underground fuel storage tanks, rain water harvesting system, connection to public …

A TENDERING process to appoint a new contractor to finish the County Library project in Ennis has been announced by Clare County Council. This comes following the appointment by the High Court of an examiner to Kilmihil-based development company L&M Keating Limited. Since July no building work has been carried out at the site of the planned new library adjacent to glór. Construction works begun back in January and the project had initially been due for completion next year, however that date was pushed out to 2022 when construction nationally was affected by Covid-19. According to a statement released this week by the local authority, “Clare County Council will shortly commence a tendering process to appoint a new contractor to the County Library project. The decision comes following the appointment by the High Court last week of an examiner to L&M Keating Limited. At this juncture we do not have a timeline for the appointment of a completion contractor.” A …

THE Ennis Municipal District are being urged to put its back into supporting local students. Councillor Ann Norton has proposed that the local authority meet with students to hear first-hand about their experiences of heavy school bags and the effect it has had on their backs. Speaking at the monthly meeting of the council she stated, “There has been an enormous amount of students already suffer injuries and pains due to this issue and it is exactly this situation that will cause long term damage to our children’s backs. There is a body of international medical and academic research that supports the correlation between weight of school bags and lower back pain in adolescents. Can Ennis Municipal District look at supporting students to highlight this issue to the Department of Education and the Minister of Education? We should invite students in to tell us there experiences and look at the best way forward to look at reducing the weight of …

CLARECASTLE and Ballyea Heritage and Wildlife Group were named among the country’s Heritage Heroes this week. The local group were named the first ever winners in the County Clare category at the National Heritage Week Awards 2020 for their project, “Clarecastle on film in the 1950s.” Eric Shaw of the Clarecastle and Ballyea Heritage and Wildlife Group explains, “The film had been recovered from reels of old cine-film taken by Anthony Considine with wonderful scenes of Old Clarecastle, fancy-dress parades at Regattas and of ships being unloaded at Clarecastle Quay. The film brought back memories of those days.  Covid-19 put paid to a lot of our plans for Heritage Week 2020 but we were determined to mark the occasion as we have done over the past eight years. The finding of that wonderful old film on Clarecastle helped us to put it forward as a project to the Heritage Council and we launched it during Heritage Week. It was very well received …

THE total cost of refurbishing the Scariff Health Centre (SHC), which closed recently, is about €300,000, according to the Mid-West HSE. The HSE has confirmed the SHC will close for between six to eight weeks to accommodate a major refurbishment. Services will be relocated to Tulla Health Centre, Broadford Health Centre and Scariff Medical Centre for the duration of these works. Responding to Clare Champion queries, the Mid-West HSE estimated the total cost of the refurbishment to Scariff Health centre is approximately €300,000. The regional health authority also confirmed the main contractor carrying out this work is James Malone Construction Ltd, Ballybeg, Ennis. Services will be offered in a number of facilities by public health nurses or clinicians to their clients in Tulla, Scariff and Broadford. Patients have been made aware of the alternative arrangements. James Malone Construction Ltd was established in 1971 and has continued to be a family run business. It carries out a wide range of building …

Ahead of Halloween this year, Clare County Council is advising members of the public not to take part in any activities that are contrary to public health guidelines or measures under Level 5 of the Government’s Covid-19 plan, such as bonfire gatherings. The local authority have also stated that given the current high level of risk associated with Covid-19, children and families should not move between houses to trick-or-treat in the way that traditionally happens at Halloween. Clare County Council and Clare County Fire and Rescue Service are also urging members of the public and businesses not to supply any waste material to persons who do not hold a valid waste collection permit. The call comes in advance of the Hallowe’en period, which traditionally has been used by some people to illegally dispose of waste material on bonfires. The uncontrolled burning of waste, particularly in bonfires, is illegal and releases toxic pollutants into the air, which are known to be …

MAJOR works to prevent serious flooding in Ennis are now almost complete, OPW Minister Patrick O’Donovan has confirmed. Minister O’Donovan has revealed two of the major elements of the Ennis South Flood Relief Scheme, at St Flannan’s College and Ballybeg, are “substantially complete with only minor snagging remaining”. The minister has also accepted an invitation to visit Clare where he is set to explore a proposal to develop a greenway between Ennis and Clarecastle. He said flood works at Clareabbey suffered a delay in recent weeks “due to unforeseen difficult ground conditions”. These difficulties, the minister added, meant the original embankments proposal at Clareabbey had to be redesigned. However, he said this redesign has now been completed and that the additional works are “progressing more rapidly than initially expected” and have “largely been brought back into line with the original programme”. The minister was speaking in response to a parliamentary question from Clare TD Joe Carey. The minister also told …