Tag Archives: Councillor Cillian Murphy

A WEST Clare councillor has called for the reclassification of regional roads in the district to facilitate more regular gritting during a cold snap. Councillor Murphy proposed the R487, R488 between Kilkee, Carrigaholt and Kilbaha, and the R473 between Kildysart and Labasheeda, be included as strategic regional routes in future winter service plans as Priority Two. Speaking at a recent West Clare Municipal District meeting, Councillor Murphy said these two strategic regional routes were not included in the Winter Plan for treating roads, despite the fact they served significant populations. The Kilkee Councillor said the R487 is effectively a main road to the Loop Head Peninsula for about 3,000 people. “These roads should be treated as Priority Two, which means their treatment will not be done on an ad-hoc basis. This would ensure they are a core part of the treatment of roads rather than we will get to them if we can. “This is exactly the kind of stuff …

MORE than six Whole Time Equivalent posts were vacant in different health disciplines of the West Clare Community Healthcare Network (CHN), new figures have revealed. The Mid-West Community Healthcare has confirmed the CHN manager post was vacant at the end of November for the West Clare CHN, which covers a population of 70,652 in Ennis, Ennistymon, Kilkee and Kilrush. A GP lead working one day a week was also vacant, while there was 1.1 Whole Time Equivalent absent in Occupational Therapy Services in this network, 2.1 WTE short in Physiotherapy Services where eight WTE were filled by agency and three more WTE were required in Dietetics Services. The East Clare CHN covering a population of 33,945 in East Clare, Shannon and Sixmilebridge also had one administrative support WTE vacant; it required a GP lead and had no Podiatry Services staff as this speciality was covered by the West Clare CHN. Ballina and Killaloe are covered by the East Limerick CHN …

CLARE County Council has pledged to lend community development assistance to any local voluntary group that establishes a proposed new meals on wheels service for elderly people in West and North Clare. This follows a call from Councillor Cillian Murphy and Councillor Joe Garrihy for the West Clare MD, Age Friendly Clare, and the Rural Development Directorate to support local community groups, the HSE and OBAIR Newmarket in the establishment of a meals on wheels and odd job service for West and North Clare. In the context of the population, over 65, living in North and West Clare, many in rural and isolated areas, they pointed out this would enable older people to live healthier and longer in their own communities and to have a consistent regular contact linking them to locally delivered services. Responding to their joint motion at a West Clare Municipal District (MD) meeting on Tuesday, acting Rural Development Senior Executive Officer, Bernie Haugh, said the Directorate …

A BRIEFING on the impact that new planning laws might have on the powers of local authority members is to be organised, the head of the Council has said.  Mr Pat Dowling was responding, at the January meeting of the authority, to concerns voiced by Councillor Cillian Murphy. The Loop Head man raised the topic of the Planning and Development Act, which was signed into law last month. He noted correspondence from Cork County Council members who have forwarded their concerns to Minister Darragh O’Brien and to associations representing councillors. They said that the law will “limit local Councillors’ powers” and that a ten-year proposed life span for county development plans is “far too long”.  Addressing Clare County Council, Councillor Murphy asked for a briefing on how the new legislation will impact local authority members. “It is only a notice of motion that was passed by the council in Cork, but if there is something there and if it is …

GRITTING of the county’s roads during December’s sub-zero temperatures was commended by Council members who also called for more to be done to keep rural routes safe. A joint motion, tabled by Councillors Cillian Murphy, Shane Talty, Ian Lynch, Joe Killeen, Joe Garrihy and Cathaoirleach Tony O’Brien highlighted “significant difficulties” in many rural communities. The motion also asked for a review of what constitutes a “strategic regional route” in the Council’s priority list in the winter gritting plan.  Councillor Murphy commended the work of Council teams over the cold snap. “There are a number of routes across the country that that seem to provide the critical key transport corridors for communities,” the Loop Head man said. “Just because they have lower population density, it does leave them at far more risk of isolation than many other communities. I had a call from the school in Kilkee where school and public transport were not operating because it was unsafe to do …

EMERGENCY response times for West Clare patients are back in the spotlight again after a Kilrush woman endured an eight-hour wait for an ambulance. The elderly woman did receive medical assistance from a member of the fire brigade and off-duty medical person while she was left lying on the floor in her home. This case was highlighted at a recent HSE West Forum meeting by Councillor Cillian Murphy where he stressed eight hours was too long for anyone to be waiting who needs hospital care even if it wasn’t a high acuity case. The Kilkee-based councillor said this person would have been ideal to receive treatment from a community paramedic. “If an eight-hour wait is what we are expecting, I would like a response on that.” Chief Ambulance Officer, J J McGowan admitted the ambulance response time fell short of their standards. “If you would like to send us the details, we would like to see what happened in that …

CLARE County Council estimates there are 3,207 beneficiaries of temporary protection, most of which are believed to be Ukrainian refugees, currently accommodated in 30 hotels, hostels and self-catering accommodation across 14 local settlements. The council is coordinating local response services across the county and the matching of Ukrainian people displaced as a result of the war to hosted accommodation. Councillors were told at a meeting on Monday this is being done through the repurposed Community Response Forum, with meetings at a county level being held on a bi-weekly basis and local meetings in Shannon, Ennis, Kilkee and Lisdoonvarna. Prior to the war in Ukraine, it was widely recognised that Clare was already lacking available bed nights, considering the level of product available in the county. A Clare Visitor Survey of domestic and international visitors facilitated by the council between late April and September found high satisfaction levels, but 81% of overseas tourists had to travel by car to the Banner …

HUGE numbers of dead sea birds are washing up on Clare’s coastline due to avian flu, prompting a call for state assistance to deal with the issue. “We are seeing huge numbers of dead sea birds around our coast, in particular gannnets, due to the avian flu,” said Councillor Cillian Murphy. “I’m not a scientist but what I understand from speaking to  people who are is that normally the avian flu would die off in the summer when they’re in their colonies, but this particular variation hasn’t, and it has really impacted on seabirds really heavily.” With many of the birds washing up on beaches, he said that Clare County Council staff members have to deal with them appropriately and need protective clothing. He put forward a motion requesting the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine “allocate funding to local authorities for the additional resources required to deal with the costs of cleaning up and managing the consequences of …