This article is from page 8 of the 2008-06-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
CLARE County Manager Alec Fleming was told last night to sort out the planning mess in Clare.
Councillor PJ Kelly (FF) made the call as the majority of councillors continued to delay important coun- cil business as part of their stand-off with Mr Fleming.
At the council’s adjourned June meeting, 12 items, including the council’s annual financial statement, the draft annual report, the review of Development Contribution Scheme,
a discussion on the upgrade of the \Eoso rT ele mm (OMe Tele Mm Ike) peKmBus) EIB UETSamLe the Ennis and Environs Plan and County Development Plan, were all deferred.
Mr Fleming told councillors that items relating to the annual financial statement and the draft annual report must be passed by law by councillors before the end of the month.
In a bid to overcome the impasse, Mr Fleming confirmed to councillors that he would hold a special meeting behind closed doors with councillor representatives after last night’s June
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“T don’t know what is going on with these shenanigans, but there are far more important things at stake such as the safety on a road like the N67, which the EU has classified as one of the most dangerous roads in Europe,” said Cllr Brian Meaney (GP), express- ing his frustration at the “go-slow”’.
However, councillors opted to defer a discussion on advancing the case for upgrading the routes and a suc- cession of votes were taken on the deferral of items.
In the votes, councillors voted 19 to
three and 20 to two against the items being heard. Clare’s mayor, Cllr Pa- tricia McCarthy (Ind) found herself isolated along with Cllr Meaney.
Cllr Kelly said that a planning ap- plication before the meeting was symptomatic of the malaise in plan- ning in Clare. He accused the mayor of trying to break the councillors protest by putting the various items before the meeting.
Cllr McCarthy said she would like to intervene to help resolve the row but over the past couple of weeks had felt her intervention was not wanted.