Tag Archives: Michael McNamara

WHILE the State won’t make the information public, the Concerned Shannon Residents Group have received details from other sources about the development of Unit 153 at the Shannon Business Park for the accomodation of International Protection Applicants. Even local TDs are struggling to get information from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, but the group have received a diagram showing that there are plans for 70 bedrooms on the ground floor of the building. It is unclear if there will be further bedrooms on other floors at the site. This week several members of Concerned Shannon Residents said they have serious concerns that very little planning has been done for the hundreds of people set to be housed in the new Direct Provision Centre. They also say the level of secrecy around the proposal is unhelpful, something that Clare TD Michael McNamara has also slammed, while he accused the Government of a contempt from the democratic process. …

ENNIS town centre has been suggested as the focus of a government pilot project aimed at bringing buildings back into residential use. Clare Independent TD Michael McNamara, who presented the proposal to the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dáil Éireann this week, said that many business premises which once had families living over them now lie empty over ground level for a variety of reasons including particularly building regulations and insurance costs. Addressing the Taoiseach in the Dáil, Deputy McNamara said, “Ennis, like other market towns in Clare and like market towns all over the country, has streets full of fine old buildings where there is a retail unit at ground level and in many but not all cases, they are vacant over ground level. A century ago, there were families living in them.” “I don’t underestimate the difficulty of converting those back into residential use. There are regulations, there are issues around financing, but it would offer many benefits not …

CLARE TD Cathal Crowe has made an official complaint to the Ceann Comhairle, alleging the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth failed to provide him with information about the provision of a new emergency accommodation facility in Shannon. He appeared on RTE current affairs show Drive Time last week and said that only while on the show he found out that the Department had provided a reporter with information that Deputy Crowe himself had sought, but been refused. “I was flabbergasted because there was information on the airwaves that I wasn’t aware of, and when I tried to get information via the most official route of all, a Parliamentary Question, I was told it was commercially sensitive and they couldn’t tell me.” He said he has been left completely in the dark about the details of plans to place refugees in the Shannon Free Zone. “It’s been a week since I lodged it to the office of the …

IF a commercial deal was handled as badly as the transfer of the Shannon Heritage sites to the County Council, those in charge would probably be looking for new employment, said Clare TD Michael McNamara this week. It should be far easier to establish if Clare County Council can get the finance it says it needs, he feels. “If money isn’t available, money isn’t available. I’ve never been one to make little of money or to say that €15 million, which is reputedly what’s being asked, is a small amount of money, it’s not. “On the one hand you have Government representatives saying that it’s a small amount of money, which I don’t agree with, and on the other hand they’re saying that every effort is being made. “It seems to me that the dispute isn’t even about money, there seems to have been a lack of interaction between the Government and its various departments, Shannon Airport which is a …

TWO Clare TDs argued in the Dail last week for a change in Ireland’s approach to illegal drugs with one advocating their legalisation. While praising the excellent gardai successes against major criminal gangs, he argued that current legislation is not fit for purpose, and claimed that drugs are now everywhere in a way that wasn’t the case when he was a student. Listing high profile wins against organised criminal gangs such as the Collopys, the McCarthy Dundons, George Mitchell and John Gilligan he asked, “Has all of this led to the war on drugs being won? “Are there no more drugs on our streets? No, there are far more drugs on our streets, and they are in every community in Ireland. They are in every village in Ireland now – Bodyke, Scariff – every town and village in Ireland now has a thriving drugs trade. “I question the waste of Garda resources chasing these people. They are evil and the …

CLARE’S two Independent TDs spoke in support of firefighters in the Dáil this week, urging Government to address their issues. A group of Clare firefighters recently voted in favour of industrial action and Deputy Violet Anne Wynne said that there are real problems facing people in the service. “I spoke to a representative from SIPTU today on this issue and they painted a picture of the seriousness of the situation which is beyond bleak – the word “dangerous” would be more apt. “Firefighters are heroes and national treasures. That is especially apparent in rural communities such as in my constituency of Clare. They are often the first responders and play a vital role in keeping our people safe. “In recent years the job has not been attractive enough. We know that 60% are planning to leave and I would say that most are staying due to the loyalty they have to the service and to each other.” Ms Wynne added, …

IN the Dáil this week, Clare TD Michael McNamara called for progress on the transfer of Shannon Heritage to Clare County Council, claiming that the matter is being “bounced around Government Buildings.” Addressing the Taoiseach on Tuesday, Deputy McNamara said, “The day Deputy Micheál Martin was elected as Taoiseach, I raised the issue of Shannon Heritage sites with him and the need to take them out of Shannon Group, which does not want them, and give them a new lease of life. “I have raised it several times since. The last time, the Taoiseach said Clare County Council just needs to get on with it. I understand the council very much wants to get on with it but the proposal is being bounced around Government Buildings.  “At the moment, it is between the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the Department of Transport and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Can the Taoiseach, as Head of Government, tell …

THE crisis at Dublin Airport is due in part to short-term failings, but also flawed aviation policy which saw it cater for approximately seven out of every eight flights into and out of Ireland, according to Clare TD Michael McNamara. “If you put all your eggs into one basket and it breaks then you’ve got a big problem and that’s what the country has done. But the management of human resources at Dublin has also been inadequate, to say the least,” he said. He said that there are policy levers that can be pulled to rebalance aviation, taking pressure off Dublin and giving more traffic to the other airports that need it. “You could set a cap on the number of flights going into Dublin Airport or alternatively you could set maximum percentages. “For airlines, you could say that a maximum of 75% of your flights can be into Dublin, so if you have 100 flights a week you have …