This article is from page 32 of the 2008-01-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 32 JPG
A SHANNON councillor has been accused of painting a “bleak” picture in relation to funding available to Shannon Town Council.
The comment was made by the Town Manager Ger Dollard, after Cllr Gerry Flynn (Independent) said that lack of funding for the local au- thority was proving problematic.
The discussion arose amidst a de- bate on the effects of flooding in various parts of Shannon.
Cllr Patricia McCarthy raised the issue, Saying she wished to thank the council staff who worked so hard to get to the root of the flooding in Drumgeely.
Clare County Council Senior Ex- ecutive Engineer Donal Hogan said there are “always gulleys getting blocked in Shannon”.
He said that manhole covers in the Corrib Drive estate had been lifted and a section of the sewer which had been blocked was freed.
A similar problem had been recti- fied at St Conaire’s school, said Mr Hogan.
He added that he was confident that the problems in those areas will not recur.
Councillor Gerry Flynn said, “They have left you with no funding. You have no money. You haven’t enough of a crew. This is the facts of it,’ he Said.
He said he regularly walks and said he believed that 90 per cent of paths “were not accessible in certain areas’.
‘Planners allowed so much develop- ment in the Ballycasey area. Women with buggies couldn’t get out of their homes in the last few weeks. A lot of this is due to developers leaving infrastructure around,” he said.
“Money has to be found to do something with the infrastructure in general in Shannon,” he added.
Shannon Town Manager Ger Dol- lard reacted to Cllr Flynn’s com- ments and said, “Councillor Flynn is painting a very bleak picture. It is a phenomenon. Climate change is hap- pening in Shannon.”
Mr Dollard stressed that there had been “a huge volume of water in the past couple of weeks”’.
He said, “We certainly could do with more funding. We will contin- ue to try to improve the situation. I don’t think the picture is as bleak as it’s being painted.”
Cllr Flynn said he wanted to point out that improvements had been made in a number of areas such as lighting and footpaths, but there was a lack of funding in other areas.
“I have no problem working with the council to try and get extra fund- ing. I don’t think it’s fair of you to say I am painting a totally bleak picture. I have to tell the truth,” said Swe aise