Tag Archives: Councillor Mark Nestor

MOTORISTS have been seen driving on a pedestrianised area of Ennis’ Parnell Street in the evening, prompting calls for barriers to be put in place. Councillor Mark Nestor highlighted the concerns of local businesses located on the town centre street at a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District. He stated, “There are businesses operating in the pedestrianised section of Parnell Street after 6pm but over the last number of weeks there has been an issue of cars driving up the street when they shouldn’t.” He requested that Ennis Municipal District erect temporary barriers at the end of the pedestrianised section of Parnell Street, to stop traffic coming up the street. The motion was seconded by Councillor Pat Daly. Eamon O’Dea, Senior Executive Engineer, “The contractor is awaiting for ESB connections to the retractable bollard to be completed and then the bollards can be commissioned. “The Ennis Municipal District will arrange temporary traffic management to obstruct errant drivers from entering from …

FRUSTRATION with the waiting time for decisions on planning appeals has been expressed by members of Clare County Council.  A joint motion from Councillors Pat Daly, Mark Nestor and John Crowe made a call for staffing levels at the appeals board to be increased. The members also agreed that more planners should be appointed to Clare County Council to handle a predicted surge in applications in 2022.  “The normal planning appeals decision time with An Bord Pleanála is four months,” Councillor Daly told the December Council meeting. “In recent times, the decision process at the board has totally gone over control… So many appeals in Clare are with An Bord Pleanála for up to 12 months. “One, in particular is a proposed plaza for the outskirts of Ennis. Clare County Council gave its full planning permission 12 months ago creating up to 130 jobs and there’s still no decision [on the appeal]. The reply the frustrated applicant get from the …

A NUMBER of sports clubs in Clare could “go to the wall,” after being unable to fundraise during the pandemic, a local councillor has warned. Councillor Mark Nestor told the May meeting of Clare County Council that while everyone welcomes the fact that clubs are allowed to return to some of their activities, concerns are mounting over their financial viability in the aftermath of the lockdowns. “It’s great that clubs can now go back to their activities,” he said. “That’s a very welcome thing, but some have been in touch about their rental costs when it comes to accessing facilities. It’s particularly true for soccer clubs. For example, they might have to rent twice in the week with training and then for their games. In some cases, they simply cannot meet the financial costs. That’s down to the fact they haven’t been able to fundraise for over a year. Some clubs have informed me that they will go to the …

A “DANGEROUS” stretch of road in Ennis needs to be lit up with more and more walkers using the route, a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District has been told. Councillor Mark Nestor proposed at the meeting that the local authority request Clare County Council “explore the possibility of installing public lighting on the Golf Links road”. The councillor said that he has received numerous complaints about the lack of lighting from members of the public saying it is a popular location for walkers. “They told me this is a very dangerous stretch of road in the darkness. We are all very much aware that we are limited to our 5km due to Covid-19 restrictions and this is a very popular loop,” he said. Eamon O’Dea, Senior Engineer, responded, “The Ennis Municipal District recommended planning conditions on developments at Ballymacaulla, Beechpark for a special contribution to cover the cost of the provision of public lighting on Circular Road from Golf …

ACCUSATIONS of an ambush on Clare’s first citizen, as she chaired the monthly meeting of Clare County Council, were robustly denied by three members who tabled a motion calling for a ban on the use of the title ‘Mayor of Clare’. Councillors Ann Norton, Mark Nestor and Paul Murphy refused a number of requests from fellow councillors to withdrawn their motion. They noted that, under the Local Government legislation, the only mayoral title is that of ‘Mayor of the Ennis Municipal District,’ owing to the population of the area, and that the title for the county council chair is ‘Cathaoirleach’. Their motion asked “that the executive use the correct titles of Cathaoirleach of County Clare and Mayor of Ennis in all correspondence and media releases”. Responding, Councillor Howard, who is the current council chair, said she found it hard not to take the motion personally. She agreed with the assertion of Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy that it represented an ambush. …

NURSING homes across Clare to from benefit from a donation of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), secured after a fundraising drive coordinated by the Midwest Hospital Campaign. The initiative was prompted by concern at the start of the pandemic about the difficulty in accessing supplies of PPE, particularly for nursing homes and other congregated settings. “The donation will be especially important now that visiting has begun once again at nursing homes and there’s even more demand for PPE,” said Noeleen Moran, one of the coordinators. Some of the PPE was sourced through a network of contacts for manufacturers in Poland, while more was handmade by hundreds of individual volunteers and groups across Clare, including the Irish Countrywomen’s’ Association (ICA). Hilary Tonge of the Midwest Hospital Campaign said the effort to secure PPE had involved many groups and individuals from across the county. “When the pandemic was declared, there was a huge fear that there would not be enough PPE,” she said. …

GRIEVING families are “distraught” and feel their deceased loved ones are being “forgotten about” after being buried in part of Drumcliff cemetery. While reports of items disappearing from graves in the older section of the cemetery has been condemned as “appalling and upsetting” sparking calls for CCTV cameras to be installed. Councillor Mark Nestor, speaking at a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District, urged works are needed to improve the layout of the burial ground and provide greater connectivity between the old and new sections. He pointed out that there is a row of trees acting as a barrier between two sections. He outlined that people who have family members buried in Drumcliff are “in a very, very bad way and are very distraught at the layout of the graveyard.” He said, “Those who have people buried in the new section feel very much they have been forgotten about and left out. If you look at the whole row of …