Tag Archives: council

OUTGOING Ennis Municipal District Councillor Johnny Flynn has resigned as a member of the Fine Gael party he has confirmed. In correspondence to Clare Fine Gael seen by The Clare Champion the Ennis councillor stated he is resigning his membership of the party as “it has been made apparent over the last week that the two current Ennis Municipal District Fine Gael councillors and other sitting  Fine Gael councillors  continue to fully support what I consider to be  destructive Council and Ennis 2040 DAC plans for Ennis town centre. This is despite that all councillors, including Fine Gael ones,  recieved written confirmation last October that a petition signed by 3,700 people was handed into the council opposing the plans.” Councillor Flynn, who announced earlier this year he would not be seeking re-election, said he intends to continue to work and campaign as an independent citizen against the “controversial plans of the Council to hand over ownership/control to a private company  Ennis 2040 …

FINE Gael’s Joe Cooney was this afternoon elected Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council at its AGM, succeeding Killaloe’s Tony O’Brien. Councillor Gabriel Keating was elected leas Cathaoirleach. It was the 50th Council AGM to be attended by Councillor PJ Kelly and a special presentation was made to him to mark the milestone. On his last day wearing the chain of office, Councillor O’Brien said that when he was first elected to the Council the possiblity of one day being Cathaoirleach had been in the back of his mind, and he said it had been “a dream come true” to represent Clare locally, nationally and internationally. He praised the Council staff and his colleagues for their support over the last years, while he said that Clare’s volunteers are “the heartbeat of our county.” When the presentation was made to Councillor Kelly he said that when he was first elected in 1974 “I didn’t expect to be here after nine elections or …

A CABINET meeting earlier today saw approval granted for a funding package that is set to see Clare County Council take over responsibility for Shannon Heritage attractions in the county. It is understood that the Council will receive €6 million in funding this year. They will also receive a ‘letter of comfort’ promising further support in 2024 and 2025. Clare County Council are set to discuss the offer in the coming days and are likely to accept it, which would end a long running saga around the future of the sites. In a statement this afternoon Clare TD Cathal Crowe welcomed the development. “Today the Cabinet met and approved a funding package which will now go to Clare County Council to be ratified. “This funding package secures the future of the iconic sites in our region including Bunratty Castle and brings certainty to the workers of these sites who, for far too long, have been left wondering what the future …

SHANNON Airport Group is to be asked to consider extending the free 15-minute access to the car park at the airport. At last week’s meeting of Shannon Municipal District, Councillor Pat McMahon said that while first of all the Airport should be thanked for the free access, there are problems with it, especially in the evenings. A motion he put before the meeting asked that Shannon Airport Group “consider providing additional free short-term parking for pick-up or drop-off of passengers as the current 15 minute free park is not sufficient”. Councillor McMahon said that at the moment people park up at the roadside on the way in, as they don’t want to go in too early and face the €3 charge if they are inside for longer than a quarter of an hour. The Fianna Fáil councillor said that it can be “quite dangerous”, with people parked at the side of the road on the way towards the car park …

CLARE County Council has this evening passed a budget for 2023. The Council’s spending will increase by €13.3 million next year, up to €151.9 million, but an increase in commercial rates has been avoided. An extra €1.9 million is going to be spent on energy next year, reflecting very high levels of inflation in the market. The Council’s head of Finance Noeleen Fitzgerald said that things are increasingly challenging and discipline will be required next year. “It was one year that it was very difficult to get a balanced budget, but I feel that the hard work will start now,” she warned. In his address to the members, Council Chief Executive Pat Dowling said that climate change, inflation, war and the legacy of the pandemic are posing a huge amount of challenges. He said that the Council has to be responsible in its budgeting. “We must not simply balance figures that are not based on reality.” Mr Dowling said that …

A CLARE councillor has railed against what he calls discrimination against small farmers and their families. Councillor PJ Kelly said that new regulations which he said are being introduced because members of the Oireachtas “who were asleep or half asleep and let through legislation that they didn’t understand” have the potential to be very harmful for small farmers. “Under the new regulations, up to 90% of the farmers in West Clare, if we adopt the County Development Plan, will not be recognised as farmers, because they are under the limit of 20 hectares, which is 49.42 acres, say 50 acres,” Councillor Kelly pointed out. “In other words the priviliged will have 50 acres, their sons and daughters will be recognised as the sons and daughters of farmers and get the benefits accordingly. “Those who have less than 50 acres will not be recognised as the progeny of farmers anymore,” said Councillor Kelly. He said there had been a “stealth move” …

THE Shannon College of Hotel Management has an economic impact of over €5 million per annum, its head Dr Phillip J Smyth told a meeting of Shannon Municipal District councillors on Tuesday. The meeting was held at the College and at its outset the members heard a presentation from Dr Smyth, which was somewhat disrupted because of a cyber attack on NUI Galway, of which the college is a part. Dr Smyth said that it is now quite difficult to get housing for its approximately 400 students. “The biggest problem we have is accommodation,” he said. Dr Smyth said that a mail shot is going out throughout the Municipal District, looking for expressions of interest in housing students. Explaining some of the college’s history, he said that when it was being established by Dr Brendan O’Regan, approaches were made to Government for funding. However Dr Smyth said the Government’s position was that “there were not jobs for 12 trained hotel …

CLARE County Council, CEO Pat Dowling has explained that the recent decision by the Supreme Court requiring members of the Traveller community to vacate a site in Ennis does not mean the case has relatively limited implications, and the matter has not been concluded. Two Ennis councillors Johnny Flynn and Clare Colleran Molloy, had motions before February’s meeting of Clare County Council seeking information. Responding to them, Mr Dowling read a statement on the matter, before saying that the case is still ongoing and appealing that further debate not take place in the circumstances. Mr Dowling said that he wanted to “give a very quick factual background” to the members. He said that there have been legal issues between the Council and the people involved in the case for some time. “As you know there is a history of litigation between the Council and Mr and Mrs McDonagh over the past five years. They initially sought to prevent the development …