This article is from page 12 of the 2008-06-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
COMMENTS in relation to a Re- spond house in Shannon, made at a meeting last month, have angered local residents. The remarks have prompted the Respond group to call for Clare County Council to take over the maintenance of the estate in which the house is built as a matter Oma Rees Neate
A motion placed before a Shannon area meeting of Clare County Coun- cil last month called for the council to contact Respond, in relation to Number 10 Rineanna View, which
was badly damaged by a fire and needed to be adequately secured.
The motion, placed by the Mayor of Shannon, Councillor Sean McLough- lin, received minimal discussion at the meeting.
Now, Respond has issued a state- ment, saying the residents reject what it has referred to as “council criticism” and pointing out that the house was secured immediately after RAV ROFD OM OL-LOMes-C-UNONDOLSLO ms LE
‘Several residents living in Rinean- na View, Ennis have expressed dis- appointment to Respond staff within the past week at the comments made
by their public representatives at the recent meeting of the Shannon Elec- toral Area Council,’ said the state- ment.
Respond Regional Manager Paul Hargaden said, “Rineanna View is maintained to a very high standard. Respond has a planned maintenance programme and, as part of this pro- gramme, the estate was painted in May and all guttering was cleaned. Respond manages a very high qual- ity community building on Rineanna View which provides supports for the local community, including a Family Resource Centre, Youth Activities
and educational programmes.”
Mr Hargaden said he “would have expected that the local councillors would have acquitted themselves with all of the facts before making any statement on the matter”.
The estate was built 10 years ago. Respond says it 1s well time for the local authority to take over the main- tenance of the lighting, roads, sewer- age and grass.
The statement added that Respond had used its own resources for the past ten years to maintain the estate, including the green areas, lighting and public walkways.
Respond, it said, had called on the local authority on numerous occa- sions to take the estate in charge, under the 2000 Planning and Devel- opment Act.
Mr Hargaden said that in addition to housing, Respond provided ad- ditional support services to the resi- dents, including estate management, community development, family re- source and childcare.
Respond staff visit the estate on a weekly basis to ensure the estate is well maintained, to deal with resi- dent queries and to develop commu- nity activities.