Tag Archives: Department of the Environment

By Peter O’Connell CLARE County Council has appointed retired South Tipperary county manager, Ned O’Connor and retired Cork county engineer, Ned Flynn to carry out an independent investigation into the council’s dumping of asbestos at a number of sites in West Clare. The duo have already visited the asbestos dump sites with Clare council engineers. News of the dumping of asbestos was revealed in The Clare Champion back in March and in a statement to The Champion on Wednesday, Clare County Council said phase one of the work to remove asbestos is substantially complete. “Tenders for phase two works are to be returned next week and then assessed by Clare County Council and then phase two works will proceed,” the statement added. The council is unable to give an approximate timescale as to when the investigation and clean-up will be complete. “The independent investigation is underway and it will be a matter for the investigation team to inquire into the …

VULNERABLE  elderly Clare people are still likely to be waiting up to two years for housing adaptation grants, despite a small increase in Clare County Council’s annual allocation from central government. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government adaptation grant allocation of €3.375m in 2011 was slashed by 56% to €1.454m in 2012 before a marginal increase to €1.545m last year. According to the department, an increase in the region of €54,00 is earmarked for 2014 but this is far from satisfactory for many interested parties, who say this will leave elderly people in difficulty navigating their own homes. The average waiting time, which was as high as three years in 2012, has been condemned as “inordinate” by ALONE chief executive officer, Sean Moynihan and “unacceptable “by local county councillors. Mr Moynihan, on behalf of the group that provides support for elderly people, called for the introduction of national assessment criteria to identify those most in need of …