Tag Archives: town council

IN a somewhat ironic twist in view of the devastation caused by the weekend’s storm,  “Towards a Better Kilkee: A Town Improvement & Economic Development Strategy 2014-2024,” was launched last night at the Culturlann Sweeney Library. Prepared by Clare County Council, in association with Kilkee Town Council and various community groups, the  key focus of the 10-year strategy is to generate new employment opportunities in a town that has a 36% unemployment rate, promote the local tourism product and enhance the physical appearance of Kilkee. The latter presents a huge challenge, now that the much core element of the seaside infrastructure has been so badly damaged. The short and medium-term priorities outlined in the strategy include carrying out a branding and marketing exercise for Kilkee, establishing contact with owners of all opportunity sites, promote the existing coastal walks by upgrading signage and information, conducting a survey of derelict sites in the town, carrying out upgrading works to the bandstand, producing a comprehensive …

CLARE has been “blacklisted” when it comes to job creation according to Ennis councillors, who this week criticised the IDA for not bringing employment to the county. Councillor Tommy Brennan has demanded that Ennis Town Council write to both Minister Richard Bruton and the IDA to ask “what they have against County Clare”. Councillor Johnny Flynn commented that the IDA should change its name to “Industrial Development for Dublin, Cork and Limerick”. This week’s meeting of Ennis Town Council saw Councillor Flynn call for an Ennis and District Economic Taskforce to be set up in preparation for the upcoming abolition of Ennis Town Council. He urged that the taskforce should target unemployment, job creation and implement the actions of the Clare County Council Enterprise Strategy. The councillor stated that despite recent jobs announcements by the IDA, “unfortunately Ennis doesn’t seem to be getting any of these”. He went on, “Ennis should be standing up and forming a group to look …

AS Shannon Town Council discussed the foul odours that have plagued the area this year, it was claimed that local children have been left dizzy and too ill to go to school. While the odour hadn’t been very noticeable for some time, there were complaints that it was as bad as ever in the early part of this week. A report prepared for Tuesday’s town council meeting by Ger Dollard, director of services with Clare County Council and Sean Water, senior engineer, water services, said a major upgrade of Shannon’s wastewater plant and sewer network would cost €22 million, while an interim scheme would cost between €2m and €2.5m. However, they didn’t hold out much hope of the work happening very soon. While Irish Water is set to take over responsibility for maintenance of the network, Mr Dollard and Mr Ward’s report said, “The approach of Irish Water in its early years is likely to concentrate on smaller and/or interim …

CLARE County Council has identified a proposed sports complex in Kilrush as the county’s primary candidate for a possible €58,882 grant from a new initiative called Sport Nation. Kilrush town manager Anne Haugh revealed details of the grant application at last week’s town council meeting. Kilrush Town Council had previously and unsuccessfully applied for funding, under the Sports Capital Grant, for the Cooraclare Road sports complex. Details of the proposed complex were first announced at a Kilrush Town Council meeting in June 2011. The complex is to be located on the Cooraclare Road, where the ESB Moneypoint sports facilities are situated and on adjoining land owned by the Department of Education. At the 2011 meeting, Kilrush Town Council heard that 12 months of talks had culminated in a lease agreement between the council and landowners, the ESB and Department of Education. If the current funding application is successful, it could kick-start the complex, which has yet to receive sufficient public …

MORE than five months after the National Famine Commemoration was held in Kilrush, local town councillors still cannot decide where to locate the commemorative sculpture. In fact, only one member of the public responded to a council invitation for suggestions as to where the sculpture by Paddy Murray should be installed. After a long debate at Tuesday’s Kilrush Town Council meeting, councillors decided to defer a definite decision until October. Some councillors admitted that the location issue has dragged on for so long they would struggle to recognise the sculpture if they saw it. “I’ve forgotten what it looks like and how big it is,” Councillor Ian Lynch said. “We don’t know what it looks like. Because of the plinth, we haven’t seen it all,” Councillor Mairéad O’Brien stated. Town clerk John Corry revealed that an invitation for submissions from the public, issued in July, was met with an under-whelming response. “I received one submission. The location that was identified …