Tag Archives: Gerry Flynn

A PLANNED town it may be but Shannon has never had a proper centre and this week’s meeting of the local municipal district council heard several calls for change. There were also calls for those who had been involved in the Venue project (a proposed civic and arts centre for Shannon) to keep going, despite some recent setbacks. Sinn Féin Councillor Mike McKee put forward a motion that the local county councillors meet with senior officials from the county council’s planning department and other interested parties to agree a strategy for developing a streetscape. At the meeting, he said he had read one very critical comment from a visitor to Clare’s second- largest town. “The first thing you notice about Shannon is that there really isn’t much to the town,” he quoted. “That struck me; I didn’t like to read that,” he added. As a youngster in the North, he said that removal men came to his family’s home to …

SHANNON’S flood defences are not adequate, and unless €14.6 million is invested, a massive €693 million worth of damage could result. That is the conclusion of the report on the Shannon Town and Airport embankments, carried out on behalf of Clare County Council, the Office of Public Works and Shannon Group. The report warns, “There are considerable concerns regarding the adequacy of the existing embankment flood defences fronting both Shannon Town and Airport. The findings of the investigations undertaken for this report confirm that these concerns are justified. The embankments do not provide an adequate standard of protection from flooding from the Shannon Estuary.” It said that because of the hydraulic connectivity between the town and the airport, and the common flood risk, measures should be taken jointly by the three bodies. Regarding what works should be carried out, the report says, “The preferred method of providing an appropriate standard of defence to the two frontages is by the raising, …

COUNCILLOR Gerry Flynn has criticised An Bord Pleanála after it rejected the advice of its own inspector, to turn down Aldi’s application for a store in Shannon. He said it is not the first time the body has done something like this regarding a Shannon proposal. “That has happened before, if you remember, it was the same with the crematorium. I don’t know why they have inspectors at all, the powers that be seem to see them as surplus to requirements at time. If an inspector comes out that has the knowledge and expertise to make a decision on a proposal, would you not think that this is the expert you have to listen to? “The board can say that even though you went out and did your job and gave us your recommendation, we have the power to overturn it and we can decide yay or nay. It’s a regular occurrence that an inspector’s report can be overturned or …

At this month’s meeting of Clare County Council, Councillor Ann Norton called for the local authority to allocate more resources into statutory enforcement on planning, waste, illegal camping “and all other areas that are being flouted”. The councillor stated, “Not a week goes by that councillors aren’t being contacted by people complaining about illegal dumping and encampments. Unfortunately, it is costing the council a serious amount of money.” Speaking about illegal encampments, she said that, in many cases, “unless there are legal proceedings brought, they won’t move.” “This is putting a lot of stress on people living in the area and is bringing down the value of houses,” she added. Councillor Norton pointed out that large gates were recently installed at the Rocky Road in Ennis to help tackle illegal dumping in the area. “This is unacceptable. We have to say no,” she stated. She asked for details of the cost of the gates and the executive said this would …

Expenses totalling €12,329 were incurred by 20 Clare county councillors for their attendance at a training conference in Donegal last year. Councillor Gerry Flynn, who did not claim any of his statutory annual training allowance of €3,300, has called on the Government to provide in-house upskilling for councillors at local level, to eliminate the need to travel to the four corners of the country. His call came after almost three-quarters of the 28 elected members travelled up to Buncrana for the Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) conference on May 5 and 6 of last year. Councillors Michael Begley, James Breen, Pat Burke, Bill Chambers, Clare Colleran-Molloy, Joe Cooney, John Crowe, Christy Curtin, Pat Daly, Pat Hayes, Michael Hillery, Gabriel Keating, PJ Kelly, Pat McMahon, Paul Murphy, Richard Nagle, Tony O’Brien, PJ Ryan and Bill Slattery each made the round trip of 672 kilometres. They received payments ranging from €453 for Councillor Christy Curtin to €680 for Councillor Bill Chambers, …

IT is understood that the three occupied units at the food court at SkyCourt are going to close in their current location in the coming months. It is not clear as of yet why they are being closed but it is understood that the occupiers have been given notice, presumably with some other future retailers in mind. SkyCourt refused to make any comment when contacted. At this week’s meeting of Shannon Municipal District, there were claims that SkyCourt has been struggling badly in recent years. Independent Councillor Gerry Flynn said, in recent times, that “the town centre has been practically dying on its feet”. He said that when Shannon Development had its offices in the area it had made a big difference, while it has been negatively effected since its closure. Councillor Flynn said businesses are closing in the centre as it is, while he claimed Shannon Group “walked away from it”. He said he is not happy with how …

HOME to over 100 companies and with more than 7,000 employees working there, Shannon Free Zone is one of the largest clusters of indigenous industry outside of Dublin. This week, former senator and county councillor Tony Mulcahy said he feels things are going in the right direction but local Councillor Gerry Flynn has far more reservations about what has been happening there. “Smithstown is full, you can’t get a place to park. There are a good few units available in the industrial estate but a lot of what is there is not great. That is a legacy issue, it wouldn’t exactly be a State secret. They have applied to build new units. The top two bays at the industrial estate have been flattened now, they are in for planning there for office space and small industry,” said Mr Mulcahy. He said, at the moment, because of a lack of improvements over a number of years, Shannon is not in a …

THE provision of a crematorium in Shannon has become a possibility once again. A proposal to dispose of a piece of land to a man who wants to develop it, is set to come before Clare County Council. If it happens, it will be the first crematorium in the county and, indeed, the first in the West of Ireland. Originally proposed a number of years ago by the late Sean Hillery and Tony McMahon, both former county councillors, the use of a site at Illaunmanagh, close to the cemetery in Shannon has been controversial since the idea first arose. The matter resurfaced at Wednesday’s meeting of Shannon Municipal District Councillors. While most of the members were supportive of the development, Shannon-based Councillor Gerry Flynn likened the council executive to a previous government who, he claimed, had kept putting referendums before the people until they got the answer they wanted. On the other side, Sinn Féin’s Mike McKee said he wants …