Tag Archives: Deputy Cathal Crowe

A CALL has been made for the opening of a ‘one stop shop’ in Clare to support midwestern homeowners affected by pyrite.  Deputy Cathal Crowe is seeking the facility, which would be overseen by The Housing Agency and would support homeowners accessing the new defective concrete blocks grant scheme. The calls has been made in parallel with the progressing of the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022. Deputy Crowe said the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) is examining the option of opening regional support centres and he believes that the centre for the midwest should be located in Clare.  “The Housing Agency would oversee this,” he told The Champion. “It would provide an interface between the public and government staff and support homeowners in accessing the grant and getting remediation works done.” The new Bill, published last Tuesday evening (June 21), is a 62-page document outlining the revised blocks scheme. While Clare and …

INTENSIVE efforts to ensure consultation on the new defective concrete blocks grant, which is to cover this county, have resulted in an agreement to hear from affected homeowners before legislation is finalised. The announcement from the Housing Committee falls short of full pre-legislative scrutiny (PLS), which had been sought by campaign groups, including that in Clare. However, it will mean that members of Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG) are likely to get the opportunity to address the committee next week. It also means the legislation can be fast-tracked. The move follows a request by Deputy Joe Carey and two party colleagues to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing to engage in a PLS process. “With Deputy Kieran O’Donnell from Limerick and Deputy Joe McHugh from Donegal, I have written to the Chair of the Housing Committee seeking PLS,” Deputy Carey confirmed. “I have also asked Minister Darragh O’Brien to facilitate a full briefing for the Clare Pyrite Action Group (CPAG) …

FOLLOWING a series of false dawns, it looks like works are finally on track to replace a 40-year-old sewerage treatment plant in South-East Clare that is causing foul odours for local residents. Householders in Ballycannon Heights, Meelick, have campaigned for years to get Clare County Council, and in more recent years Irish Water, to replace a waste water treatment plant that is no longer fit for purpose. Responding to Clare Champion queries, Irish Water confirmed land acquisition for this project is underway and it is expected that a CPO will be submitted in the coming weeks. “The construction start date will be subject to the completion of this process and planning approval,” said an Irish Water spokesman. Fianna Fáil TD for Clare Cathal Crowe is insisting that works to put in place a proper wastewater treatment plant for Ballycannon Heights should be separated from the ongoing Limerick Northern Distributor Road project. Temporary infrastructure was put in place back in the …

Plans for the construction of a family home for Deputy Cathal Crowe have been put on hold after the local planning authority requested further information on the application. There has also been a strongly worded submission to the planning application that questions among other things what transpired at extensive pre-planning meetings between Deputy Crowe and Clare county planners. The submission also highlighted the potential environmental impact of the proposed dwelling and questions whether unauthorised development may have taken place in clearing the site. Permission has been sought for a private dwelling house, detached garage, wastewater treatment system and associated site works at Heathmount, Cratloe, for Maeve Fehily and Cathal Crowe. In its request for Further Information, Clare County Council considered the information submitted in the application is insufficient to make a complete planning assessment of the proposal. The applicant was requested to submit a site layout plan with a slope of 1:8 or less as per the EPA guidelines and …

ACTION on bullying in schools is to be reviewed and updated to take account of cyberbullying, Clare’s Fianna Fáil TD has been told. In response to a parliamentary question from Deputy Cathal Crowe, the Minister for Children outlined a number of responses being undertaken to make the online sphere safer, including a review of school policies that date back to 2013. Responding to Deputy Crowe’s question, Minister Roderic O’Gorman said the Department of Education is soon to update its interventions in relation to bullying. He noted that Minister Norma Foley’s Department has already published a strategy document for schools.  “My colleague the Minister for Education has also brought forward significant policy initiatives in this area this year including the publication of the new Digital Strategy for Schools in April, which focusses on further embedding the use of digital technologies in all teaching, learning and assessment activities and includes building awareness and knowledge around online safety,” Minister O’Gorman said. “The Department …

OVER €144,000 has been allocated by the Department of Rural and Community Development for the provision of five remote working hubs in Clare. The funding will provide new modular work spaces and privacy pods along with closed circuit television monitoring, lighting for external hub area, solar panels, internal LED lighting, electrical vehicle charger and bicycle racks. A further €50,000 will be made available to Clare County Council under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme to fund marketing campaigns and promote remote working opportunities around the county. “Rural and Community Development Minister Heather Humphreys made the announcement this week. Welcoming the allocation, Deputy Joe Carey said, “As former Chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee on Rural and Community Development, I have been a long-time advocate of  remote working and the provision of connected hubs outside the major population centres. “Even before the transformative experience of the Covid lockdowns, the benefits of remote working were obvious in terms of rural regeneration, environmental impact and …

AN independent public inquiry needs to be undertaken to properly assess the impact of industries situated along the Shannon Estuary on the environment and health of Clare people. That’s according to Deputy Cathal Crowe who is supporting calls from local environment campaigner Pat Geoghegan for a fresh look at the impact of local industries in view of the findings of an epidemiologist. In an interview with the Clare Champion, Deputy Crowe said concerned residents living on both sides of the estuary want more than the current level of EPA inspections on industries releasing substances into the atmosphere. The Fianna Fáil Deputy stressed this call isn’t about jeopardising jobs provided by these industries but centres on appropriately addressing legitimate concerns of environmental campaigners who claim to have a body of evidence justifying their dissatisfaction with current levels of environmental protection. The Meelick Deputy said it was important that air monitoring stations should be permanently located on the Clare side of the …

BOGUS tradesmen who are travelling to Clare and ripping off vulnerable people should be banned from entering the county, said Deputy Cathal Crowe at Monday’s meeting of the Clare Joint Policing Committee. He said one group of what he called “bogus tradesmen” from the North Kerry area have been in Clare since last winter. “They don’t operate that covertly at all,” he warned. Deputy Crowe said they had been in his own area of South East Clare, in Kilrush and in Gort, and distributed the same advertising material in each area. He said they charge for work that they fail to carry out correctly and that they are “cleaning out older people to the tune of tens of thousands”. Detective Inspector Padraic Frawley said that in many cases the victims of such crimes had been among the most vulnerable members of the community. He said there had been fewer than ten such cases reported over the last few years, but …