This article is from page 2 of the 2012-01-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
FIFTY Clare housing developments, which were classified as ‘ghost estates’ by the Department of the Environment in November of 2010, will have to pay the controversial € 100 household tax – despite the residents of 23 other Clare estates being given an exemption.
Indeed, the residents of one Clare housing development, the Cluainn Aoibheann estate at Ballycaseymore in Shannon, have been granted an exemption from the tax even though they were not classified as a ghost estate by the Department of the Environment.
This information has come to light following a Cla re People investigation into the reasons why some estates were made exempt by the Department of the Environment and others were not.
In November of 2010, the Department of the Environment classified 72 housing estates in Clare as ghost estates. The make-up of these estates varied drastically, with some being structurally unfinished and developer-abandoned, while others were nearing completion with a developer on site.
This list, which was later removed from the Department of the Environment website, gave a detailed classification of each of the 72 developments in Clare and showed what work was left to be done in each of the named estates.
According to this list, the Aisling housing development in Shannon, for example, which has been exempted from the € 100 household tax, was complete in every category except that 11 of the 103 apartment in the complex were vacant.
In contrast to this, the Acha Bhille housing estate in Ennis, whose residents will have to pay the € 100 charge, was reported by the Department of the Environment as having 20 units which were built to wall plate level and four units built to foundation level – but had no building activity on site at the time.
Speaking last night, Shannon Counillor Gerry Flynn (IND), who has been critical of both Clare County Council’s and the Department of the Environment’s handling of the tax, said he will “stand by” any Clare home owners in unfinished estates who will still be forced to pay the tax. For more, including the full list of housing esta tes in Cla re tha t ha ve been exempted from the € 100 cha rge a nd the list of developments tha t ha ve been cla ssified a s ‘ghost esta tes’ by the Depa r tment of the Envir onment but will still ha ve to pa y the ta x, tur n to page 21.