This article is from page 37 of the 2008-06-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 37 JPG
KILRUSH Chamber of Commerce has asked its members not to pay rates to Kilrush Town Council until questions about the sale and payment of new civic offices are answered.
After weeks of controversy sur- rounding the purchase of the former site of the Inis Cathaigh hotel by Kilrush Town Council and Clare County Council for civic offices, the chamber of commerce has issued a statement outlining its stance of the whole issue.
Prior to this business people in the town had raised concerns about how the money would be found to pay for the €1.4 million site and later for the estimated €5 million necessary to refurbish it.
The issue was discussed in depth at the chamber’s monthly meeting on June 5 and following on from that meeting a motion was passed ask- ing all the chamber members to de- fer payment of their rates to Kilrush Town Council until questions raised in recent letters from the chamber to the local council were answered in full and to the organisation’s satis- faction.
“Kilrush Chamber of Commerce represents the interests of a large group of business people in Kilrush and the surrounding areas, who have the social and economic develop- ment of Kilrush at the top of their list of priorities,’ the statement issued by president of the chamber Paul Coady read.
“We welcome and applaud the pro-
posal to provide the Kilrush Munici- pal Area with New Civic Offices, but have major concerns as to how such a project would be funded. To date we have asked the Kilrush Town Council three pertinent questions re- lating to this proposed development in a letter dated May 17: what is the likely impact of this project on the rate payers of Kilrush?; what provi- sion for parking will be made, if any, in the proposed development?; what is to become of our fine town hall building?”
The chamber of commerce said that the reply received on June 3, made it “none the wiser and failed to shed any light on developments, in fact it has clouded the issue further”.
At its June meeting the chamber also agreed that as many members as
possible would attend the next Kil- rush Town Council meeting on June 12, to show support and solidarity for Kilrush Chamber of Commerce and its concerns regarding the project. This highly charged meeting was at- tended by a large contingent of con- cerned members and ratepayers.
Members of the chamber have also written individually to the town clerk and town manager seeking a reply to the questions asked.
“Kilrush Chamber of Commerce has had a long standing, good work- ing relationship with Kilrush Town Council and calls on Kilrush Town Council to answer the questions raised in a forthright and transpar- ent manner before this project is pro- gressed any further,’ the statement concluded.