This article is from page 11 of the 2009-09-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 11 JPG
CLARE County Council is to seek written confirmation from Limer- ick County Council that no houses in Clare have yet been purchased as part of the Limerick Regeneration Programme.
Earlier this year, the elected mem- bers of Clare County Council decid- ed not to play any role in the regener- ation programme – with fears being raised by councillors that anti-social behaviour would spill into section of south and east Clare as a result of the relocation of families from Limer-
ee
The local authority has suspended any further decision on the project until written assurances have been received by Limerick City Council.
“This 1s a catch 22 situation,’ said Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald (Ind) who raised the issue.
“T would like the director to get me confirmation from the Limerick City Council that houses are not be- ing purchased in Clare. I have seri- ous problems with the devious way in which this whole thing is been Coy stone
Commenting on the Limerick Re-
generation Programme, Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) said that the regeneration issue was being put forward again in an underhand fashion.
“This has been dropped in under the radar like a scud missile and no- body knows where it will drop,” he said.
“I’d like to know where the coun- ty manager and all the directors of services will be when we get calls at three o’clock in the morning because of anti-social behaviour. This is a very Serious issue.”
Speaking on the motion, County Manager, Tom Coughlan, urged
councillors to engage with the Re- gional Housing Strategy rather than ignoring it.
“We all know that this is a very se- rious issue. We all know that this 1s having an impact and it will continue to have an impact,” he said.
““T think that it is important that the council manages the project and the impact that this process will have on County Clare. It 1s very important that Clare County Council has an input into how these houses are al- located.
“We know that when the HSE de- termine the allocation of houses,
there isn’t the vetting that we would like to see. Whatever we do, there will most certainly be a regeneration DEOL enIce
“If Clare is part of the Regional Housing Strategy then we have some chance of influencing how this is managed in the county but we do know that if we are not in the strat- egy then we will have less and less influence on this.
“The clock is ticking and the longer that Clare County Council stay out- side of this process the less influence that we will have on this,” added Mr Sree Ete