Month: November 2008

A MEMBER of Kilrush Town Coun- cil has accused the ESB of snubbing the council as a meeting between the electricity supply board and the local authority failed to materialise.

Councillor Collie Sweeney (Ind) also asked if the electricity supply board was in breech of its contract with the council.

He told Thursday evening’s meet- ing of the council, “We invited repre- sentatives of the ESB to address this council and to account for its neglect of the public lightening system in OTT ab ss e

“This council pays a premium rate to the ESB for the contract to supply and maintain a decent public light- ening service in the town. I think we should call in our legal adviser and ask if the ESB might be sued for breach of contract as it has failed to fulfil its obligations. But then the ESB enjoys a monopoly and can snub and ignore anything we say in this council chamber,” he said.

“There is an urgent need to carry out a survey of the public lightening in the town.”

“T walk the town every night of the week and can tell you that many lights are out of commission. Some

housing estates have no proper light- ing and this has security considera- tions for the residents living there. Maybe the town engineer will con- duct this survey and redden the ears of the ESB as to their contractual ob- ligations,” said Cllr Sweeney.

The Independent councillor said that on November 12 there were 42 lights out in the town and asked if the council was getting a sufficient Service.

Executive Engineer Derek Troy in- formed the councillor that all public lights are checked on the first week of each month by the town general Services Supervisor.

‘Following the monthly check a re- port of all defective public lights 1s sent to the ESB. Under the council’s contract with the ESB, any defec- tive public lights are required to be repaired within two weeks of this report,” the reply said.

‘An overall assessment of the pub- lic lighting system is carried out reg- ularly in conjunction with a member of personnel from the ESB. This as- sessment sets outs areas in need of upgrade to existing public lights and areas for the provision of additional or new public lights where street lighting does not currently exist,” he NCO

KILRUSH Superintendent Michael Comyns met with the members of Kilrush Town Council on Thursday last to discuss the future of the Joint Policing Committee (JPC) in the OD e0r

The Kilkee native told the mem- bers that they would drive the suc- cess and workings of the committee as the council makes up the biggest group in the 17 person committee.

JPCs have been set up nationally in accordance with the Garda Siochana Act 2005, which provides for such a committee in each local authority administrative area.

The purpose of these committees is to provide a forum where a local authority and the senior Garda of- ficers responsible for the policing of that area, with the participation of Oireachtas members and community interests, can consult, discuss and make recommendations on matters affecting the policing of the area. It is intended that the committees will be co-operative in nature and will Operate with the minimum of for- mality.

“One of the most important parts of the committee 1s the people from the community and people from the vol- untary organisations. The best thing is to pick from the widest spectrum

such as the youth group and older people,’ the newly appointed super- intendent advised.

“You can only have three from the voluntary and community sector. This is very small for an area like Kilrush so it 1s important to pick from a broad spectrum,” he added.

‘The town council will have a huge influence on the joint policing com- mittee. The biggest thing is that this is not a blame game,” he said.

“Things will go wrong but if every- one pulls together hopefully we will get it right.”

Supt Comyns told the council that the committee can have a huge input into law and order in the town.

“If there is a public premises acting outside the law we can discuss it here and we can send someone from the joint police committee to object to the licence,” he said.

While most committees are to be made up of three Oireachtas mem- bers, Kilrush will have just one due to the number of TDs in the constitu- ency.

Councillor Christy O’Malley (FF) pointed out to the meeting however that none of the four TDs in Clare could be considered local to west OE cer

The cost of this new committee is to be borne by the council and it must hold a public meeting once a year.

THE region’s waste management plan is now redundant following the confirmation that two private com- panies are pursuing thermal treat- ment technologies that were not in place when the plan was originally adopted.

That’s the view of Cllr Brian Meaney (Green) who made his com- ments after Regional Waste Co-ordi- nator, Phillipa King confirmed that two private firms are pursuing forms of thermal technologies in the Lim- erick area.

She confirmed that the technolo- gies being pursued were not around when the plan for Clare, Kerry and Limerick was adopted in 2006.

One plan is only at pre-planning stage, while the Regional Waste Of- fice has raised questions over a Ssec- ond proposal to meet the criteria laid down for thermal treatment.

Cllr Meaney said the waste plan needs to be reviewed as soon as the review ordered by Environment Min- ister John Gormley into the national waste strategy takes place .

“The current plan is redundant by its irrelevance. One indicator of ir-

relevance is the thermal treatment proposals by the private sector are taking place outside of the thermal treatment aspect of the plan and the direction from the Minister that ther- mal treatment is to be removed from waste plans.”

The presentation by Ms King also confirmed that there are less house- holds engaged in refuse collection in Clare last year than there were in paul etes

The number of Clare households signed up to the service is 57% or 21,290 compared to 22,285 or 58% of the 38,210 total in 2006.

However, the county boasts the highest recycling rate in the region at 35% compared to Limerick city (23%), Limerick county (29%) and Kerry (23%) and the regional aver- age of 28%.

Ms King’s presentation also con- firmed that at current filling rates, the landfills in the region have a lifespan of seven more years.

The capacity in the region is 1.324 million tonnes and that the current capacity is 765,000 tonnes, while the plan review states that there are 50 closed landfills in the region.

However, Ms King anticipated that

the lifespan of the landfills will be longer when organic waste is divert- ed from landfill.

Clare County Council along with other local aurthorities are aiming that 20% of households have segre- gated organic collection by Septem- ber of next year and that by December 2010, 40% of housholds must have a segregated organic collection.

The amount of household waste is currently down 3%, uncollected household waste is down 50%, Con- struction and Demolition Waste down 6% and Commercial waste up Ce

KILRUSH was the big winner at last nights Community Environmen- tal Awards hosted by Clare County Council – taking the Clare In Bloom competition.

Communities around the county received awards in a number of com- petitions included Clare In Bloom, Best Public Seat and Co-operation Ireland Pride of Place.

Scoring highly in landscaping and the range of planting, colour, Lit- ter control and waste prevention, the people of Kilrush and the Kil-

rush Tidy Towns Group were over- Whelmed with achieving the top eV Aer

The “Clare in Bloom” competi- tion is a motivational mechanism for the many small local based groups throughout the county to enhance the visual impact of their towns and villages by means of flower, tree and shrub planting.

This year’s competition attracted marks towards waste prevention, maintaining bring banks and en- ergy initiatives. Judging which takes place from mid-July to mid-August, considers such factors as colour, size,

variety, location and appropriate- ness of the various planting schemes along with the management of litter.

The Category 1 award was won by Kildysart Tidy Towns Committee, who finished ahead of Quin Devel- opment Association and Shannon Tidy Towns.

Ballynacally Development As- sociation was named the winner of Category 2, with Tuamgraney De- velopment Association and Kilmihil Community Development Associa- tion achieving second and third plac- es, respectively.

Category 3 was won by Labash-

eeda Community Pride with Bally- vaughan Tidy Towns in second and Bridgetown Tidy Towns in third place

A Special Endeavour Award went to Knock for the huge community ef- fort demonstrated by the overall ap- pearance of the village and great use of colour in this west Clare village.

The Cathaoirleach’s Environmen- tal Award, as well as a cheque for €1,000 was presented to St Marys Community Development Lissyca- Sey.

The Best Public Seat Award went to Ballyea who scooped the prize for

a third year in a row with Ballyna- cally second and Knock third.

The Pride of Place competition is an annual competition, which is run with Co-Operation Ireland in conjunction with Local Authorities north and south of the border.

Clare County Council and Co-Op- eration Ireland honoured the local contribution that Tuamgraney De- velopment Association, The Bur- ren Centre, Kilfenora, West Clare Resource Centre, Miltown Malbay, OBAIR Newmarket on Fergus, and Gleann an Oir Residents Association Shannon have made.

MAYOR of Clare, Madeleine Tay- lor-Quinn (FG) was not invited to last Friday’s announcement of US pre-clearance facilities at Shannon Airport, it was revealed yesterday.

In what was described as a “severe slight”, the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey met with a number of Fianna Fail councillors during his visit to the airport but no opposi- tion councillors, including the Mayor Taylor-Quinn, were invited.

Indeed Cllr Taylor-Quinn only heard of the Shannon event during an informal conversation with the minister at the sod turning ceremony for the N18 Gort Crusheen Bypass on Duce hmrnleurnpace

“IT would see this as a severe slight to both the Mayor of Clare and the Mayor of Shannon town,” said Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind), who led the campaign to save the Shannon Hea- throw connection.

“T welcome Councillor McMahon’s meeting with the minister but I have never heard of such a select group of people getting together for a meet- ing. I certainly was not invited to the announcement and I know that the mayor were not invited to the meet- bee lieoe

“If this slight was of the ministers doing or if it was brought about by the management of Shannon Airport then shame on them – we have all supported them whole heatedly dur- ing what as been a very difficult time for the airport.

Commenting on that motion, Cllr Hanrahan (FF) said that no special treatment was shown to Fianna Fail councillors.

‘Invitations were not issued to any- body. Local councillors were invited to meet the minister but no indica- tions were given that there was a ma- jor announcement on the horizon,” he said.

Shannon mayor Cllr Gerry Flynn

(FG) told the council that he was given 45 minutes notice about the announcement and was unable to at- tend because he was “doing real work for his constituents in the offices of Clare County Council in Ennis”.

“T’m delighted that Minister Demp- sey showed that he still knows where Shannon Airport is at all and that the airport was still up and running by the time that he got there,” he said.

“As mayor of Shannon I did get an invitation to the announcement on Friday, I got about 45 minutes notice in fact.”

Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) call for a pro- tocol to be put in place to govern the visits of Government ministers.

€1,035,786 was paid in_ salaries and travelling expenses to the nine person management team of Clare County Council in 2007, according to figures released yesterday.

The news of the payments came as members of the executive came un- der pressure not to accept any per- formance related bonuses on top of their annual salaries this year.

The management team is made up of the county manager, the five direc- tors of services, the county secretary, the head of the human resources de-

partment and the head of the finance eljortasenoele

Figures for 2005 show that the total paid out to the management amount- ed to €843,139. The payments rose to €1,001,297 in 2006.

The figures were revealed at yes- terday’s meeting of Clare County Council, following a motion tabled by north Clare councillor Martin Lafferty (Ind).

Cllr Lafferty welcomed publication by the council of the figures. He said it was disappointing that there was such a high turnover of council staff nationwide.

“What we have seen over the past few years is that guys come into jobs and stay there for seven years and then move. Why wouldn’t they stay for another seven years?” asked Cllr Peouas

Pressed by Cllr Christy Curtain (Ind) to explain the 25 per cent jump in payments between 2005 and 2007, County Manager Alec Fleming said the rise was probably attributable to the fact that some positions on the executive had been unfulfilled for a period of time.

Earlier at the meeting, Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) tabled a motion stat-

ing that council officials should not, in light of the current economic downturn, accept any bonus pay- ments for 2008.

“Are ye going to accept perform- ance related bonuses in light of eve- rything that has happened this year?” questioned Cllr Mulcahy.

County Manager Alec Flemming said that any payments due to offi- cials were being paid in accordance with employment conditions set out by the Department of the Environ- ment, Heritage and Local Govern- ment.

In response to questioning from

Cllr Mulcahy, Mr Fleming did not say whether or not bonuses would be paid to the management team this year. “I’m not going to discuss this. It’s part of pay and conditions. It’s not going to be discussed,” said Mr i (renbbaree

Cllr Martin Conway (FG) support- ed Cllr Mulcahy’s motion. He said he was confident that council officials would not be seeking performance related bonuses.

Cllr Conway also called for the council to examine what measures could be taken to curtail the cost of overtime payments.

CONSTRUCTION on the next phase of the Atlantic Corridor from Gort to Oranmore will commence in 2010, according to ‘Transport Miu£nister Noel Dempsey.

The scheme was one of six projects deferred due to budget cutbacks but at a sod turning ceremony on the construction site of the Gort/Crush-

een bypass on Friday, Minister Dem- pey said it would be the only road project to start in 2009.

“That wasn’t an accident. This sec- tion of the Atlantic Corridor was deliberately chosen to give a very clear signal from Government that the commitment that we have made to balanced regional development, to the west of Ireland despite the eco- nomic downturn, remains very, very

strong.”

Minister Dempsey said that the scheme marks “a very, very signifi- cant next step in the provision of the Atlantic Corridor”’.

“Inevitably, you can’t do everything at the one time. It is hoped that in 2010 will see all of the inter urban motorways will be completed and at that stage, there will be more money available and it 1s anticipated that the

Six Or seven projects which have been postponed and are not going ahead in 2009 will all start in 2010.”

He said that the Gort/Crusheen sec- tion of the the corridor would elimi- nate one of the worst bottlenecks _NCOyercam ON eloma UN E-NNLBCemere UNTO CO)E

“This project emphasises the im- portance of investing in the road infrastructure so that business and regional economic hubs such as Lim-

erick, Shannon and Galway can com- pete in this ever demanding national and global environment.

“The key benefits will be three fold, a safer road, direct regional eco- nomic investment and easier access for visitors. For the people of Gort and Crusheen it will give them back their towns by dramatically reducing through traffic,” Minister Dempsey concluded.

CLARE’S former mayor, Cllr Patri- cia McCarthy (Ind) last night hit out at what she called a vindictive and malicious campaign that sought to discredit her as a public representa- tive. She was commenting after an independent commission ruled that she has no case to answer in rela- tion to the allocation of €50,000 by Shannon Town Council to the local OU Comer NB Ken

The investigation by the Standards in Public Office Commission was in response to a complaint by Wolfe Tones Camogie Club over the alloca- tion of funding to Shannon Leisure Centre for a skateboard park and ten-

nis court.

Cllr McCarthy is a director of the leisure centre and grant allocations from a number of local authorities have been on hold pending the out- come of the investigation.

However, the Standards in Public Office Commission has stated that there was no basis on which to initi- ate an investigation under the Ethics Act as none of the alleged contraven- tions was “a specified act”.

Last night Cllr McCarthy said she was delighted the process was com- plete and that there was no case to answer.

“T have maintained my silence for over 10 months in the face of inac- curate statements, accusations and

innuendo circulating freely about me because I knew I had done nothing wrong and to allow the process prove exactly that.

“Knowing I was innocent of all charges levelled against me did not lessen the anxiety and stress that my family and I have been placed under in recent months. For those who did not know me, it must have seemed strange that I should elect to remain silent and unresponsive to each base- less charge levelled publicly against me but I hope that they would now see that justice has been done, and my stand vindicated.

Cllr McCarthy stated that for the past 30 years she had at all times sought to represent the people of

Shannon openly and honestly.

“My involvement in the leisure centre, is part of that commitment, and one from which I do not seek or gain personal benefit, as has been confirmed by the Standards in Pub- lic Office Commission. This it would appear is an alien concept for certain politicians whose only objective ap- pears to be self advancement and have no hesitation in using character assassination as a means of self-pro- motion.”

She said it was an unfortunate con- sequence that this baseless accusa- tion had put in jeopardy the ability of every local authority to deal with applications for financial assistance under various schemes.

AN IRISH rugby player and two En- nis-based gardai are being celebrated as heroes today for their bravery in saving people from drowning.

Mr. Michael Kitt, Minister of State at the Department of the Environ- ment, Heritage and Local Govern- ment, will present the “SEIKO Just In Time” Rescue Awards and various Recognition Awards to members of Irish Water Safety and the Public at Dublin Castle.

Rescuers from fourteen dramatic near-death incidents will receive rec- ognition at Irish Water Safety’s Na- tional Awards Ceremony for saving eighteen lives.

On April 4 2008, Garda Niall Doo- dy and Garda Edel Convey were on patrol when they observed a woman in difficulty in the fast flowing and cold waters of the River Fergus.

Garda Doody dashed into the wa- ter to grab her while Garda Convey got a ringbuoy and threw it to her colleague who used it to keep the woman afloat.

The plucky garda stayed in the freezing water with the woman un- til emergency services arrived at the Neo Noe

Both Niall and the woman were transferred to Ennis General Hospi- tal where they were treated for hypo- Weounene-R

Modestly, Niall says he relied on his training at Templemore to deal with the situation. “I can swim and they teach you in training about go- ing into water fully dressed.”

Meanwhile, Rugby hero, Paul O’Connell will have an award con- ferred on his in his absence, as will Garda Convey, who is on leave.

On July 25, Paul was catching some waves surfing at Lahinch when he noticed a fellow surfer in difficulty and immediately went to the 22- year-old’s rescue, battling waves and surf to bring her to safety.

“Tragically 156 drownings oc- curred in Ireland last year’, a spokes- man for the Department said. “This figure would be even higher but for the efforts of individuals who saved others from drowning in 2007.

The Service Awards also being presented recognise 1,545 years of personal service of eighty-four Irish Water Safety volunteers in the teach- ing of swimming, lifesaving, rescue skills and the promotion of water safety awareness.

Included will be the inaugural pres- entation of Irish Water Safety’s Vol- unteer of the Year Award. Six Inter- national Awards are being presented to persons from Inshore Rescue Organisations nationwide and three individuals will also be made “Life Governors” of Irish Water Safety for their efforts to reduce drownings.

PLANS to build a €60 million retail development in Shannon could bring up to 430 jobs with as many as 200 more opening up as spin-offs from the project.

A proposal by Greenband Invest- ments would see 150 jobs created in the building phase, while 250 jobs would be created directly and 200 indirectly from the planned retail warehouse park and centre. The de- velopers are applying to Clare Coun- ty Council to site the park beside the Oakwood Arms Hotel.

The proposal includes the park, which would be an outlet for large household goods, a discount food- store and a neighbourhood centre which would include a convenience shop, hairdressers, chemist and a bookies shop.

If the planning application is suc- cessful, it 1s planned to start build- ing next June. The project will take about 15 months to complete and would open for business in 2010.

It is believed that of the two anchor tenants needed for the warehouse re- tail section, one has secured pending planning permission and discussions have begun with a second.

The development company believes that Shannon is under-serviced in terms of retail for the town’s resident population of 9,000 and the addition-

al 7,000 who work for the companies in the Shannon Free Zone.

The total retail space in Shannon is 3,000 meters squared, in comparison with Ennis, which has twice Shan- non’s population but twelve times it’s retail space. The imbalance makes Shannon a prime location for further development of stores and shops, the developers say.

Already the developers have been in consultation with the county coun- cil to ensure that there is no clash between this proposed development and the existing Shannon Town Mas- ter plan. The park is designed by award-winning architects, Thomp- sons of Limerick.

While the Shannon Town Centre enjoys a variety of supermarkets, large shops and boutique stores, for white goods and other large house- hold items, shoppers have to travel to Ennis, Limerick or further afield.

Statistics also show that more than 23 per cent of all convenience goods bought by Shannon residents are bought outside of the town, while 42 per cent of purchases of goods such as clothing footwear and large items are bought elsewhere.

One of the arguments in favour of the new development., Greenband, says would be to help halt the stream of shoppers who leave the area for large centres in Limerick, Cork and AV IMOrUANe Ne