Month: October 2008

FUNDS from development contribu- tions are down by almost 90 per cent since 2006 and the drop will mean serious deficits for the local author- ity next year, a county councillor has warned.

Cur Martin Conway (FG) had asked for details about how much the council had collected in development funding this year to date.

He was told that in 2006, develop- ers paid out €12,012,654.90, while 2007 saw €11,300,295.95 come into council coffers in the fund.

But to date this year, moneys which are used to fund roads and services amount to just €1,164,509.92 and €1.5 million is the figure expected as the final one for 2008.

“This 1s a every serious situation and the council is likely to go into overdraft because of it,’ Cllr Con- way said.

‘This will mean cut-backs which I would totally oppose. Instead we are gong to have to look at efficiencies and maybe bonuses for senior man- agement and directors of services’, said Cllr Conway, who is a member of the Council’s Audit committee.

GREEN Party and Fianna Fail councillors clashed yesterday over a proposed motion calling for Clare County Council to oppose the “anti- rural housing” proposals of Minster for the Environment, John Gormley.

Councilor Michael Kelly (FF) put forward the motion at yesterday’s council meeting, claiming that Min- ster Gormely was against rural re- generation.

He claimed the minster was taking

authority away from local elected representatives.

‘Minister Gormley has taken away powers and decided to rule on his own where people should live and where they should not live.

‘He has adopted this one cap fits all approach. I think this is a dangerous situation that is developing, if these proposals go to legislation. I am dis- appointed he has removed powers from local people’”’.

Councillor Richard Nagle (FE) supported his party colleague saying

that greater freedom should be given to local democracy.

These comments prompted a strong response from Councillor Brian Meaney (GP) who accused Fianna Fail councillors of electioneering and paying “lip service” to rural commu- nities on planning matters.

‘When the Greens went into Gov- ernment with Fianna Fail we were told that they take every opportunity to blame us for policies’, he said.

Cllr Meaney said many of the re- strictions imposed on rural housing

had been introduced in legislation by successive Fianna Fail governments. Minster Gormley was abiding by di- rectives handed down by the EU.

Addressing Fianna Fail council- lors, he said “Ye have gone into these meetings on rural development in paces like Kilbaha and given lip service to the rural communities there, I have seen ye do it”.

Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind) said the current body of planning legislation had been introduced by Fianna Fail howe

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) said plan- ning was a decision taken by the en- tire cabinet. Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) said councillors on “this side of the chamber” would support Cllr Kelly’s rneKela(eyee

Members eventually agreed to sup- port an amended motion, co-signed by Cllr Gerry Flynn (ind), Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) and Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind), calling for council- lors in the mid-west to oppose the anti-rural hosing proposals of the Irish Government.

RESULTS are expected today from further lead analysis test carried out on the Ennis water supply.

The tests were carried out in old- er residential areas of Ennis; those houses built before the 1960s and would include homes in the Hermit- age and St Michael’s Villas areas . County Council Director of Serv- ices, David Timlin, said the council was currently engaged in a continu-

ous programme of lead testing.

Clean water taps have been pro- vided to residents of Marian Avenue, an area where the water supply was identified as most at risk from lead contamination.

Mr Timlin advised people living in affected areas to continue to take precautions when using water. He said the council was continuing to monitor lead levels in the water and that the level of testing had been ex- panded to other parts of Ennis.

“We would be asking people in those areas not to drink the water. The programme of continuous test- ing has been expanded to other, older areas of the town.”

Clare County Council and Ennis Town Council are advising people who stay or live in homes built be- fore the 1960s to flush their pipes as a precaution by running the cold water from the kitchen tap until the sink 1s full, before consuming water.

Even if homes have lead service

pipes, the water is considered safe for bathing, showering, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and clothes. Boiling is not appropriate to deal with lead exceedances. Lead is only picked up as water passes through pipes and household plumbing fittings and fix- tures that contain lead.

This advice applies particularly first thing in the morning or if the water has been unused in the pipes for longer than six hours. Consumers particularly at risk include children

under six, and pregnant women.

Elevated levels of lead were discov- ered in four areas around the county last week. The areas affected in En- nis were Connolly Villas and Marian Avenue, with Patrick Street in Clare- castle and parts of Sixmilebridge also affected.

There have been calls from local councilors for medical services to be provided for people, particularly old- er members of the community, living in the areas identified.

CLARE County Council is being held to ransom by it’s own elected members who are refusing to ap- prove a review of the Development Contribution Scheme until a number of questions regarding planning are addressed by County Manager, Alec Jaa (senbbaree

With the local authority currently facing a hefty budget deficit, the council had hoped to review the Development Contribution Scheme to raise extra revenue. However, a

number a councillors, led by Cllr PJ Kelly (FF), have blocked this process until 17 specific queries are answered by the county manager.

“If there is a delay, don’t blame us, blame the manager. The shortfall has been brought about by the failure of this authority to grant planning permission. If a small shop was go- ing out of business do you think they would save themselves by doubling the price of bread? No, they would put themselves out of business alto- gether,’ said Cllr Kelly.

‘There is list of 17 problems on the

manager’s desk which should have been sorted out long before this. If the manager can get these sorted out we can deal with the review in the adjourned meeting.”

Green Party Cllr Brian Meaney, said the Development Contributions Scheme is how this council funds a great deal of it’s day-to-day activi- Woe

“We have a €10 million shortfall this year between what we are bring- ing in and what is going out. This is a necessary part of the funding for this local authority and this review needs

to take place. It is simply not meet- ing the need of this council funding at present,’ he said.

County Manager Alex Fleming, said he hoped to have all 17 queries dealt with by the next council meet- ing later this month.

“They have to do with interpreta- tion of the Development Plan and we have solved most of the issues,” he said.

“T have no problem with this stay- ing over until after the budget so we can see what is the situation at that point.”

DOCTORS who have been called to attend to the injured on a north Clare road have written to Clare County Council to have the road surface mended before anyone else is hurt.

The adjourned meeting of Clare County Council heard that a Baly- vaughan road which was recently re- paired after work was done to install amenities has been the scene of ac- cidents which have caused injury to people and damage to cars.

One cyclist had to be treated for in- juries at the scene by a local GP af- ter coming off his bike and a driver whose jeep overturned also had to have medical attention.

Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind) tabled a motion asking what criteria the council uses to select contractors for water and sewerage schemes.

The finishing of the job in terms of reinstating road surfaces often leaves a lot to be desired, he said. “If you travel this road to Ballyvaughan you take your life in your hands,” he told

the meeting. “Why isn’t there more pressure put on individual contrac- tors to finish the job properly?”

Cllr Michael Kelly (FF) said that that the work on the road “was done in a prime tourist location. The state this road was left in for the summer won’t send visitors back with any good impression of the area.”

Cllr Tony O’Brien said the situation was “not confined to north Clare. We need a policy on what we look for in finishing roads after such work and we heed a strategy which involves

penalties. These people can’t just walk away from a job.”

Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald called for contractors who don’t do the job properly to be “fined, not put in to do another job for us.”

Mayor Madeleine ‘Taylor-Quinn (FG) said that the timing of the work “was terrible. It was done at the height of the tourist season when the roads into that area are at their busi- est.’ A number of councillors said they had seen letters from local GPs outlining the dangers of a badly sur-

faced road and the accidents they had been asked to attend in recent weeks on that stretch of road.

In reply to Cllr Lafferty’s motion, the Director of Services had outlined the full procedure used in selecting a contractor. A contractor is obliged to carry out “temporary restoration” during the course of the contract. A sum of money is provided in the con- tract for the final repairs to the road and this money can be spent by et- ther the council or the contractor to get the work done.

THE Progressive Democrats may just live to fight another day in Clare de- spite the announcement by the party top brass last month that it would be winding up all operations.

Clare party members attended a meeting of the western branch of the party in Limerick last week in which anger was expressed at the decision of the parliamentary section of the party to unilaterally announce that

the PDs would be disbanding.

‘We had more than 100 people at the meeting last week from Clare, Limerick and Tipperary and the vast majority of the people were very un- happy at how this whole matter was handled. There was a lot of members who felt very aggrieved at how the parliamentary party had handled the whole incident,’ said Tadhg Kearney, former national executive member of the PD’s.

“The room expressed very strong

views about how this whole situation was managed. To be honest there was a lot of anger among local represent- atives about how this situation could be allowed to happen.”

The meeting was attended by party leader Ciaran Cannon who faced questions about procedural errors in how the decision to wind down the part was announced.

“They have moved way beyond their remit in making this decision. Putting it bluntly, this was not their

decision to make,’ continued Mr Kearney. “We have more councillors right now than the Green Party and yet they have decided to call it a day. There was a lot of anger in the meet- ing, in fact that is an understatement. We had more than 100 committed members who said unanimously that they want the party to continue.

“A lot of people have made this party their home. For a lot of people out there the PDs is their political church. We don’t want to give this up

without a fight. At the moment is it unclear what is going to happen.

“There may be too much damage done for us to continue on as the PD, the decision may even be made to continue on but under a different name. We are just gong to have to wait and see.”

All members of the Progressive Democrats will meet on November 8 to vote on a motion put forward by the national executive recommend- ing that the party be wound up.

ADDITIONAL resources are _ be- ing pumped in to fight the spread of drugs in Clare, as major drug dealers are being targeted.

Resources at the disposal of the Clare Garda Divisional drugs unit have increased in recent weeks, as a major focus on stamping out the availability of drugs across the coun- ty gets underway.

Gardai are concerned about young people experimenting with soft drugs and then progressing to harder drugs which have a lethal effect on their TaVene

Superintendent John Scanlan said a major crackdown has got underway and is poised to continue.

“We have seen a significant in- crease in the number of arrests of drug dealers in the Clare division,” said Supt Scanlan.

“We have put significant additional personnel into the drugs squad in En- nis. We are very conscious there is a problem,” he said.

“We are conscious about young people who have not yet caught on to drugs getting involved,’ added Supt Scanlan.

“We have made significant seizures. There is going to be zero tolerance,’

he said.

“We would appeal to anyone with any information on people involved in drugs to contact us in the strictest of confidence,” he said.

“Drugs cause deaths. Parents in particular wouldn’t want to believe that drugs wouldn’t invade their lives. That day is gone. Drugs prevail in all elements of society,” he added.

The cocaine-related deaths of two west Clare men – as revealed in this newspaper two weeks ago – led to grave concerns about the availability of drugs.

It prompted gardai to issue a tough warning on the availability of toxic

forms of cocaine.

“We are still seizing significant quantities of cocaine, which is a wor- ry. Our advice for anyone thinking of experimenting with cocaine is not to,’ said a garda source.

“Cocaine is generally cut with other substances. People who pre- pare cocaine are unscrupulous as to what substances they use to bulk it,” he said.

“The speed at which people get into trouble with cocaine is frighten- ing. We are amazed at this. People are more likely to get into financial bother, followed by addiction prob- lems,” added the source.

THE increased availability of co- caine and heroin across Clare is a major concern for gardai tackling the spread of drugs.

Gardai have voiced the concerns in the wake of what they describe as a significant seizure of heroin in Ennis last week. More than €5,000 worth of the drug was seized during the search of an apartment, as part of a major garda operation last Wednes- day night.

A 28-year-old man was questioned and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions, who will decide if charges are to be brought.

Two weeks ago, a kilo of cannabis was seized during the search of a car on the outskirts of Ennis. It was part of an operation that also involved the search of a house in Ennis.

Gardai say that the availability of significant quantities of heroin in- dicate that there 1s a demand for it in Clare and they have pledged to

tackle this. The numbers of seizures of drugs in the county has increased significantly over the past few years. This is due to an increase in detec- tion rates, allied to the increased de- mand for drugs.

Gardai are concerned that the in- creased use of drugs is connected to violent incidents and crime such as eluted tN lone

“T am concerned about that. One would have to be concerned when people get addicted to drugs. They are desperate for money,” said Supt

John Scanlan.

Although cannabis remains the most popular drug in the county, gardai have noticed that cocaine, heroin and ecstacy are freely avail- able.

“It gets publicity on the back of a prominent death, but it is a continu- ous thing. Cannabis still tends to be the drug of choice. The problem with cannabis is that young people thing it is not addictive. This myth that can- nabis isn’t harmful has been blown out of the water,’ he added.

A BALLOT of workers at Aer Lingus which would mandate their union, SIPTU, to take industrial action over plans to outsource jobs is expected to take at least two weeks.

As 280 workers at Shannon con- template their future, the union is sending ballot papers to each and every member in a bid to get a large

turn-out and a strong mandate for ac- tion.

Unions SIPTU and IMPACT have both pledged to fight the plan which would see the axing and outsourcing of 1,500 jobs nationwide.

Meanwhile, preliminary contact on the plan is believed to have been made between Aer Lingus manage- ment and SIPTU but both sides have agreed on a media black-out on any

talks for the present.

It’s expected that union members will overwhelmingly mandate their representatives to declare industrial action if talks fail to reach a resolu- tion on the plan which aims to save the company €74 million.

Management wants the bulk of that saving – €50 million – to come from a reduction in staff costs.

SIPTU’s Tony Carroll said that a

written agreement exists between the company and the unions barring all outsourcing until after 2010. The detail of this agreement is now being examined, he said.

“It was agreed in 2006 as part of the charter of fundamental rights for workers in Aer Lingus at the time of the privatisation,’ he said.

Meanwhile, IMPACT spokeswom- an, Christina Carney said that the

proposals are not acceptable. “Not for the first time, Aer Lingus have turned to their workers and asked them to carry the burden. But at this time, the company have set out proposals which could see Irish jobs shipped to the US during a period of ACTS (Oe

‘To export jobs during a recession is unacceptable and we will fight any attempt to do that.”

BUSINESS representatives in Shan- non and Ennis have expressed seri- ous concern for the staff at Aer Lin- gus who may lose their jobs and for the fall-out that this would cause in the region.

The President of Shannon Cham- ber of Commerce, Ian Barrett has warned that any further dilution of Aer Lingus services from Shannon could have dire consequences for trade and business activity in the re- gion.

Ian Barrett said that business had already suffered from the withdraw- al of the Shannon Heathrow service.

Barrett, who also works for Shan- non based company Avocent, said “we have noticed a significant reduc- tion in the amount of business travel and the number of Chief Executives coming through Shannon since the end of the Heathrow service’.

“We would be hoping that there would be no further reduction in services. Reports that transatlantic services are at risk are worrying. A development like that could possibly have a significant adverse affect on Foreign Direct Investment”.

“We would be hoping that Aer Lin- gus would be planning on maintain- ing or increasing their services from Shannon”, the chamber president added.

Barrett said that developments such as the new CityJet route from Shan- non to Paris were welcome, but that Heathrow remained the “centre of fey svaleel mars Aare

“If you’re in business then Hea- throw remained the main hub. The Paris route has been a positive devel- opment.”

Ennis Chamber of Commerce CEO, Rita McInerney, said that the Cham- ber “is very dissapointed with what is going on in terms of the staff who

have given so much to the company and because Shannon is bearing the brunt of these cuts.”

She added that it is “very worrying from a business prospective what is to happen to the transatlantic serv- ice.

It is so vital to the international businesses based here. The air- port has been left with such a skel- eton staff and so little back-up that if something goes wrong a service could be cancelled and that could lead to it being withdrawn down the line. The airport is doing sterling work trying to get new routes and services into Shannon and they don’t jaCeXox MMOD Ecer-T ROO TOM ODO bl omie