Month: January 2012

THERE have been calls for new emergency access points to be introduced on a section of the M18 near Barefield. The National Roads Authority (NRA) has been urged to carry out the “retrofit” works to ensure that emergency service vehicles can reach accidents on the road.

The call came after it emerged that an emergency vehicle had to travel almost 20km to Crusheen to attend a single vehicle crash that occurred near the Barefield interchange last week.

Despite the accident occurring close to Ennis, the ambulance was forced to travel north to Crusheen in order to gain access to the southbound carriage of the motorway. Councillor Johnny Flynn (FG), said that in light of recent accidents in the area, the NRA should look at providing access points on the M18.

He explained, “Because of the concrete median there is serious difficulty for emergency vehicles trying to get to accidents. In that case the journey had to be extended by almost 15 to 20km. When the NRA were designing the motorway they didn’t leave room for sufficient ac- cess points. It could have been done at Tubber or Dromore.”

He added, “It would be a matter of retrofitting the motorway. There would be access points every 5km across the concrete barriers. So instead of travelling 20km, if you had multiple access points, you would have a facility to access it.”

Cllr Flynn warned that the situation could be exacerbated if accidents occurred in both the north and south carriageways. “On a foggy day or a day when the weather is really bad, it’s conceivable that you could have accidents at points at either end of the motorway and you would have serious difficulties trying to get to them.”

Cllr Flynn added, “The delay in getting to the accident site would impact on the ‘golden hour’ – which is the critical time frame from the time of an accident to receiving treatment.”

Concern had previously been expressed over the length of the slip roads from the M18 at some of the road’s main access points.

Cllr Flynn said safety works carried out by the NRA were welcome. He added, “the motorway system is much more safer but the frequency of accidents at that location that is quite worrying.”

CLARE County Council are still awaiting any formal contact from the Department of the Environment advising them which unfinished housing estate in Clare will be exempted from the € 100 housing levy.

The local authority confirmed last night that, although they have received a number of queries from the public about the issue, the department is yet to give them any indication who will pay and who will not.

Last year seven housing estates in Clare wee given Category Four status by the Department of the Environment – which means that they are unfinished housing estates where there is no chance that the developer will be able to finish the estate. It had been speculated that all houses in category four housing estates will be exempted form the € 100 charge.

Speaking at last nights meeting of Clare County Council, Director of Services, Nora Kaye, said that Clare County Council is yet to receive any information what-so-ever from the Department of the Environment concerning possible exemptions .

“The council did have a roll in trying to categories the estate of unfinished estates in the county. There were seven in category four. I am not aware of the rational behind the list that the Minister for the Environment is compiling at the moment and whether that has any connection to the list produced last year,” she said.

“We have not been contacted by the department about this. We have not been asked for statistics from the de- partment about this list. We are trying to determine for ourselves what estates will be categorisesd in what list.“We are getting a lot of queries from the public about their lists and we understand that clarification is coming from the department in the coming days and that would be a welcome move. This does not mean that these are ghost estates – this means that they are unfinished.”

Shannon Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) described it as “lunacy” that the details of who must pay this charge have not yet been finalised, even though some people have already paid the charge.

“It is absolute lunacy that the Minister for the Environment would not have the list out there. This charge came into effect on the first of January,” he said.

EIRGRID have admitted that a number of renewable energy projects that will “realistically never see the light of day” have been offered a connection to the national grid while other live development, such as the West Clare Renewable Energy Project in Mount Callan, will have to wait for as much as a decade to be given the green light.

EirGrid’s Transmission Access Planning Manager, Simon Grimes, was invited to address last night‘s meeting of Clare County Council and admitted that some projects could face a prolonged wait to be granted a connection.

Miltown Malbay councillor Michael Hillery questioned the EirGrid spokesperson about the reasons for delaying viable projects which have already been granted planning permission.

“We are under the impression that it could take between five or ten years for connection to come for the project in Mount Callan. Between Moneypoint to Dublin we have one of the biggest power-lines in the country and I don’t see why thhis cannot be used to facilitate the con nection in Mount Callan,” he said.

According to Mr Grimes, EirGrid have used the length of time that a application has been made and not whether the projects has received planing permission of is financially viable as the main criteria for agreeing to grid connections.

“The Commission for Energy Regulation ultimately decide who gets connected but they do consult with EirGrid and the ESB. Currently they do decided on connections without taking planning permission into account but my feeling is that this will probably change and,” said Mr Grimes.

“There are a lot of projects that have connection offers that will never see the light of day because of planning permission. At the same time there are other projects who have planning permission but no not a grid connection.

“There are projects that do have a grid offer but do not have planning permission – that is a fact. Some developers try and get the grid connection first – some took to get the planning first. I do think there will be a preference given to projects that have planning permission in the future.”

County Manager, Tom Coughlan, said that given the delays in the connections to the grid it is unlikely that Clare will be able to reach the targets set out in the County Development Plan.

“We have a wind energy strategy which has been developed by ourselves and that means we want to have 515 units developed by 2017. If it is going to take a decade for them to get connected it will be extremely difficult for us to reach the targets which have been set.”

NEARLY half of households throughout Clare don’t pay for household refuse collection from a registered operator, raising fears that a new ‘black economy’ has emerged around the whole area of waste disposal because of these harsh economic climate.

Ennis area councillor Johnny Flynn (FG) made the claim during a debate on a report on the findings of the Special Policy Committee on the Environment during the January meeting of Clare County Council on Monday.

“I know that 48 per cent of householders don’t have a contract for waste collection,” revealed Cllr Flynn, “and there seems to be a black economy developing, with a lot of people paying people who are not registered operators to remove their waste,” he added.

And, his figures were backed up by Betty Devanney from the environment section of the local authority, while a number of councillors said that the figure of 48 per cent was brought about by virtue of the fact that a growing numbers of house- holders are pooling together to cover their refuse costs.

“Some householders are sharing bin costs,” revealed former Mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind). “That’s one of the reasons for the 48 per cent. I share a bin and I think it’s good that if people can come to some sort of agreement like that,” she added. “Because of the town we live in, we should encourage more people to share bin costs,” said Cllr John Crowe (FG).

However, Cllr Flynn pressed for the council to put the onus on householders to prove that their refuse is being collected by a registered operator and that their waste isn’t being disposed of illegally.

“In Limerick and Louth they have waste by-laws in place, whereby people have to prove to the council that they have a contract with a registered operator to remove their waste,” said Cllr Flynn. “That should be brought in by Clare County Council,” he added.

“We are aware of Limerick and Louth and the by-laws that are in place,” said council official Betty Devanney, “and we will be discussing that as an SPC meeting to have them in place in Clare,” she added.

HARDPRESSED ratepayers around the county that go out of business won’t have to pay their dues to Clare County Council for the whole year.

That will the mission statement of Clare County Council going forward if they get the sanction from the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Phil Hogan.

The new move comes after a motion by Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) that the council would not pursue businesses that cease trading during the year for 12 months of rates payments.

“The reason that I put down this motion,” said Cllr Cooney, “is that in the current climate with so many businesses closing down, the council shouldn’t be looking to charge businesses for the whole year and then refund them money at the end of the year. Businesses should just be charged for the rates due for as long as they are in business. At the start of the rates year they are told that they have to pay rates for the entire year, but it should be a case where that if they cease trading during the year, they only have to pay up for as long as they were in business,” he added.

“The council have to spend time collected the rates and following people up looking for their rates contributions. I think it should be put to the minister that this should change.

“Some businesses that cease trading might start up again to maintain jobs, so it would be a big help if they didn’t have to pay rates for the full year on the first business,” continued Cllr Cooney.

The Fine Gael representative’s mo- tion was backed by Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) who said he knew “several business who were in severe financial difficulty and if they go out of business, they won’t be able to pay rates for the whole year and won’t be able to get credit to pay the rates from financial institutions to pay their rates, even though they would get a refund at the end of the year.

“In view of the current economic climate it makes common sense to change this, because people would stand some chance if the amount of rates that was due for the time they were in business was collected,” continued Cllr Kelly. “We are bound and governed by legislation on this,” said County Manager, Tom Coughlan. “It can be debated in the council, but at the end of the day we are bound by the legislation that’s there.”

After the council resolved to write to Minister Hogan on the issue, the County Manager backed the move as a positive development. “It’s wasting our time as a council collecting rates and then having to refund them,” he said, “and I appreciate what the councillors are trying to do.”

CLARE County Council’s headquarters in Ennis have been described as looking more like “a latter day Fawlty Towers” than the state of the art facility € 27m facility that was opened in 2008.

The claim was made of former Mayor of Clare, Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) after it was revealed that over € 130,000 worth of repairs are needed on the headquarters that was constructed by Michael McNamara & Co, formerly one of Ireland’s leading building contractors that went into receivership in November 2010.

And, during a debate that was sparked by Cllr Kelly’s motion calling on council chiefs to give a breakdown on the Áras an Chláir works, it emerged that Clare County Council could yet be forced to foot the bill for improvements.

This is because, despite a guarantees received by Michael McNamara & Co that it would pay for improvement works for a 12-year period, the appointed

Receiver Farrell Grant Sparks has so given “no commitment” that it will cover the costs.

In his motion Cllr Kelly asked that “a report be made available with regard to repairs” which covered the “cost of repairs to date”, the estimated cost of future repairs” and “who pays the costs”.

In response, senior executive officer Michael McNamara said “work is nearing completion on the rectification of defective parapet capping on the roof at Corporate Headquarters and the contractor will then be attending to the rectifying the cause of the staining to the external wall near the Chamber”.

Mr McNamara also revealed that “payments in respect of their works total € 51,640 and the estimated further cost of completing the works is € 80,000”.

Áras an Chláir was officially opened four years ago this month.

The development, the largest building project in the county since the construction of Moneypoint Power Station, was built to provide accommodation for 300 staff, as well as meeting rooms, a staff canteen, a laboratory, a Mayor’s office, a council chamber, three party rooms for the elected members and 320 car parking spaces.

“Was a commitment got from the receiver that the costs of the work would be met,” asked Cllr Kelly during Monday’s January monthly meeting of the council.

“We have no commitment from the receiver,” admitted

Mr McNamara. “The council has been in correspondence with the receiver with a view to getting money for the works.

“The contractor provided a collateral agreement to meet the cost of remedial works for a period of 12 years from the date of completion of the building – this agreement remains in place until 2020,” he told the meeting.

“There is a legal contract in place and the money can be recouped,” said County Manager, Tom Coughlan.

Former Mayor of Clare, Patricia McCarthy criticised the use of ‘Fawlty Towers’ to describe the council headquarters, saying “with all due respects to Cllr Kelly,

you have to be very careful to describe it in the way he does. We have a fine building and a modern building”.

“People are every impressed with this building,” said County Manager, Tom Coughlan.

“None of them have told me that t looks like Fawlty Towers.

“None of them have said that the place is falling down,” he added.

Cllr Kelly was a Fianna Fáil council colleague of former Michael McNamara & co chief, Bernard McNamara, who served on Clare County Council from 1974 to 1985.

MORE than 50 West Clare residents and members of the Clare Fracking Concerned group packed the public gallery of Clare County Council last night to express their support for moves by the elected members of the local authority to ban fracking in Clare.

Despite a number of procedural objects from the executive of Clare County Council, the councillors voted unanimously to amend the County Development Plan to specifically ban fracking – making Clare the first county in Ire;and to take such a step.

Councillors also voted unanimously to write to the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbittee (LAB) asking that the process of fracking be banned in Clare. This follows a motion put forward by West Clare councillor Gabriel Keating (FF) – calling for a ban to fracking in Clare.

This follows as address by fracking export, Aedín McLoughlin, at last nights January meeting of Clare County Council. Ms McLoughlin restated a number of potential problems concerning fracking, such as the pollution of water supplies and the possibility of localised earthquakes but also identified a number of less publicised difficulties – such as the destruction of a natural barrier from radon and the production of radio active uranium during the drilling process.

Speak on the proposal Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said that fracking was “raping the natural environment for the benefit of “gamblers” in the petroleum industry. “I say this as a land owner but in reality we don’t own the land, we hold it in trust for the next generation. It is bad enough that we have managed to bankrupt the next generation never mind poisoning the land as well,” he said. Meanwhile, in a separate motion, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) criticised what he described as a lack of support from the executive of Clare County Council to change the County Development Plan to include a specific ban on fracking. “We need to put into action the words that we have said today. I completely reject the directions coming from the executive of Clare County Council regarding the change of the County Development Plan – I reject this out of hand,” said . “This actions bring Clare into the spotlight of the petroleum industry’s attempts to scrape the bottom of the barrel. Clare is the bottom of the barrel for these people. We have an opportunity to send a clear signal that we are not willing to participate and sit idly by.” A spokesperson from Clare County Development Plan said that because Clare County Council does not have a role in granting planning permission for fracking developments that it would be meaningless to change the 2011 to 2017 plan to include a ban on fracking. Despite these objections councillors voted unanimously to amend the county development plan.

ONE OF the world’s all time favourite Christmas songs ‘The Fairytale of New York’ was actually written about County Clare – according to Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan.

According to the mercurial Mr MacGowan, the 1987 classic was originally written from the perspective of a West Clare sailor looking out across the Atlantic and dreaming of life in New York. The Clare People has also learned that the song, which was made world famous as a duet performed by MacGowan and the late great Kirsty MacColl, was also written with a Clare woman in mind.

Instead of MacColl, early versions of the song were performed by formed Pogues singer Cait O’Riordan, who father hailed from Lahinch and who used to spend much of her summer time as a girl in North and West Clare.

The Clare connection with ‘The Fairytale of New York’ was revealed as part of an hour-long interview with Shane MacGowan conducted by the BBC over Christmas. This change of emphasis from West Clare to New York was also confirmed by Pogues banjo player Jem Finer, who admitted the song took nearly two years of hard work to perfect after the decision to move the song to New York was made.

According to Pogues guitarist Philip Chevron, the song developed well in its orioginal format but the band was never able to quite finish the ‘Fairytale of West Clare’.

“In the earliest incarnation it took place not in New York, but in the west coast of Clare. If you listen to the early demos we did of that song at a certain point, in each case, they kind of just stop developing. They just fall into a hole where they can go no further,” he said.

According to Finer, it was the record producer Steve Lillywhite who persuaded his then wife, Kirsty MacColl, to perform the song as a duet with MacGowan.

“We tried to record it twice before it finally got it nailed with Steve Lillywhite,” he said.

“So it went through a lot of revisions. There were always things that didn’t quite work and Shane did a lot of editing of the lyrics, coming back to it again and again over a period of about two years, and we played about with the arrangement until it sort of sat properly.”

Despite being more than 24 years old the song continues to beguile listeners and reached an impressive Number 7 in the Irish singles charts this year.

THERE have been calls to convert Ennis’ oldest inhabited house into a museum.

Archaeologists believe that the McParland’s building on Parnell Street is one of Ireland’s earliest surviving examples of a timber-framed house.

A local councillor believes that there is potential to develop the site as a major tourist attraction.

Councillor Paul O’Shea (Lab) is calling on Ennis Town Council to seek funding to open a medieval museum at McParland’s and to offer a County Clare passport to every visitor to the town.

According to Cllr O’Shea, the initiative would “entitle the passport holder to discounts at other major touristic attractions, in addition to shops and restaurants throughout Ennis and the county.”

The matter is due to be discussed at today’s meeting of Ennis Town Council.

Ms Irene Clune’s house, known as McParland’s, is long understood to have been the oldest inhabited house in the Clare County capital. The building’s triple diamond stone Jacobean chimney has been an icon of medieval Ennis for centuries.

The house was first inspected in 2008 by Clare County Council’s conservation officer, who recommended that the property undergo structural repair work. Following detailed technical analyses by the National Monuments Service, officials from Ennis Town Council and consulting conservation engineers, it was concluded that the structure was unstable and represented a danger to the general public.

Ennis Town Council, using its statutory powers to deal with dangerous buildings, commenced a € 170,000 project to make the building safe and to protect and restore the historic fabric of the structure. A grant of € 85,000 was procured under the Structures at Risk Scheme from the Department of the Environment towards the restoration project.

During October 2011, the gable and chimney were carefully recorded, taken down and stored. At present the historic gable is being re-built using the original stones bedded in an authentic hydraulic-lime mortar, the floor of the house having been archaeologically excavated prior to this.

Last November, archaeologists discovered an oak frame structure, which they described as “potentially one of the most exciting urban archaeological discoveries in Ireland in recent years”.

CLARE County Council estimates that it will take three or four months to replace lead water mains at three residential areas in Ennis.

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that all lead pipe replacement works must be carried out in compliance with a European Union limits deadline of December 2013.

The Council is aiming to undertake work to replace lead piping at 82 houses in Ennis comprising 64 at Marian Avenue and 18 at Linnane’s Terrace (Carmody St), and Ahern’s Terrace (Kilrush Road).

The EPA served a direction on the Council to replace these lead mains by September.

In a detailed statement, Senior Engineer Sean Ward, explained that the “Council sought tenders for the works, and applied to the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government (DECLG) for funding. Tenders have been received and studied, and a preferred tender has been identified”.

In December, the Department of Environment Heritage and Local Government announced that it had approved € 200,000 for lead pipe replacement in Ennis.

Mr Ward stated that there is no specific funding programme for replacement of lead pipes.

He continued, “The DECLG will allocate funds under this (Water Conservation) programme, but there is a major gap at present between this allocation and the amount of the preferred tender for the works.

“We are in discussions with the DECLG in an effort to close this gap so as to allow work to start. The work should take around three to four months to complete. The EPA’s directed date has passed, but we are keeping the EPA informed of the situation”.

Mr Ward explained that there are very few water mains for which the Council is responsible. However, he said there are “probably thousands of lead service pipes i.e pipes connected to the main and bring water into single premises in Clare including at least several hundred in Ennis”.

He added, “Clare County Council is responsible for the part of the serv- ice pipe from the point of connection to the main as far as the property boundary; the owner or occupier of the premises is responsible for the part from the property boundary into the premises”.

The Council has no programme for planned replacement of lead service pipes in Ennis, which it estimates would cost well over € 1 million

Mr Ward stated, “The Council will, commencing in mid 2012 approximately, be carrying out a major mains replacement project in Ennis under the national Water Conservation programme.

“If and when we encounter lead service pipes while doing this work, our policy will be to replace the service pipe with a plastic or other pipe,” Mr Ward stated.