Category: News

CLARE is set to remain a crematorium free zone, as councillors from Clare County Council voted against plans to construction two separate crematoriums at Clarecastle and Shannon in the past eight days.

The latest proposal, which came before a specially convened meeting of the local authority on Friday, included plans for a € 5 million development including a crematorium and a massive graveyard capable of accommodating up to 4,000 graves.

The project, which was proposed by Fenloe Properties Ltd, came be- fore the council because the land earmarked for the development had been zoned residential and a material contravention of the Clare County Development Plan was required in order for the planning to go ahead.

Indeed, a planning application for the proposed facility was already at an advanced stage with the CEO of Clare County Council, Tom Coughlan, stating before the debate that planing would almost certainly be granted – if the councillors had voted for the re-zoning.

A large crowd packed the public gallery during the debate, which lasted for nearly an hour. A number of councillors raised issues in rela- tion to the proposed Clarecastle site including the potential for pollution reaching the local water system, the traffic management of the site and a previous planning application for 250 houses on the site.

A number of procedural issues were also raised in relation to the proposal, including the proposal being advertised in the national and not the local media, with some claiming that more locals would would have made submissions on the proposal if it had been advertised locally.

Councillors also questioned why the zoning issue was not brought before the council before the applicant entered into the planning process.

“I would have though it unusual for planning application to be made on lands that was known not to be appropriately zoned. I don’t see why this has taken place in this way,” said Cllr Michael Begley (Ind).

“I don’t understand why a decision was made on the planning before a material contravention was granted. Would it not have been more appropriate for a material controvention to be made before this go so far in the planning process.”

Before the vote Clare County Council CEO, Tom Coughlan, said that the would be no change to council policy towards local burial ground no matter what the outcome of the Clarecastle facility.

“The council’s policy regarding the development of burial grounds is community driven. Unless there is a change of mindset at community level, we don’t see this changing. There will be no bylaw passed by Clare County Council to say that people cannot intern their loved ones in their local community,” he said.

The matter was put to a vote with 11 councillors voting to grant the material contravention and 15 voting against it. There was no party whip applied to the vote and councilors from all political party’s both supported and opposed the crematorium.

CLARE is facing a ticking timebomb with a dramatic increase in the size of the county’s social housing waiting list and reports of a number of people being made homeless be- cause their rent allowance is no longer enough to cover their rents.

According to figures obtained by The Clare People , the number of people on the social housing waiting list has grown from 2,312 in October of 2012 to 3,066 this month.

This represents an increase of more than 32 per cent over the last 20 months and leaves the number of people waiting for social housing approaching an all time high.

This situation has been exacerbated by the recent increase in rental charges within the property market in urban parts of the county, with rent al- lowance payments no longer able to keep pace with the rising rents.

Ironically the news of the shortage of social housing units comes within a week of reports of a record number of properties currently unoccupied in Clare.

COUNCILLORS clashed during last Friday’s special meeting of Clare County Council about a proposal to allow a “mostly English owned” company to build a crematorium in Clarecastle which the local authority had recently turned down plans by “one of our own” to construct a similar facility in Shannon.

Independent councillor Ann Norton warned that Clare County Council must be seen not to “discriminate” against any proposal which could potentially bring development and jobs into the county.

His comments came in the wake of an outburst by Cllr James Breen (Ind) who questioned proposal because it was being put forward by a “mostly English” company. Cllr Breen raised concerns about other planning permissions which were not granted in the area.

“I know a gentleman living in that area [Clarecastle] who is receiving dialysis two times a week. He wanted to sell two sites on his land to pay for his treatment and he is being told that he can’t,” said Cllr Breen.

“To bring two applications [the Clarecastle and Shannon cremato- rium proposals] to the council at the same time was wrong. That, as far as I am concerned, is playing off one against the other.

“We can grant planning to a consortium which is mostly English owned and we turn down one of our own. I don’t think this is right and this council should not accept the proposal.”

A spokesperson from Clare County Council explained that both applications had come before the July meeting of the local authority because a decision to sell council land for the Shannon proposal was delayed as a result of the local elections.

Speaking on the proposed Clarecastle crematorium, Cllr Ann Norton said that Clare should be open for both local and international investment.

“I think it is important as councillors that we are not seen as discrimination against anyone who comes into Ireland and wants to invest. We have to appreciate that Ireland needs jobs and need to bring in outside businesses. As councillors, we need to show that we are open for business in Ireland regardless of whether they are local companies or outside businesses who are coming into invest,” she said.

A SPECIAL sitting of Ennis District Court will take place today to deal with alleged drugs offences.

It is the first time the court has sat specifically to deal with alleged offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

A total of 69 cases are due to be heard at the District Court, which is due to get underway at 10.30. The cases concern allegations against 34 people some of whom are charged with multiple offences.

In some cases, defendants are facing non-drug related charges.

Pleas of guilty have been entered in many of the cases, while others are due to be contested.

In cases where defendants have pleaded guilty, Judge Patrick Durcan has already ordered the preparation of pre-sentence reports from the Probation Services.

These reports are read and considered by the presiding judge before passing sentence.

The reports often look at a person’s backgrounds and explains the reasons why they may have started using drugs.

The move to hear cases involving a specific category of crime was introduced in Clare this year by the District Court judge for the area, Patrick Durcan.

It is understood that one of the reasons to hear all cases involving drugs offences in one day was to ensure a level of consistency in sentencing, where it applies.

Special hearing days have already been set aside road traffic cases and general crimes such as public order and criminal damage offences.

The move towards specialised hearing days is also an attempt to introduce a greater degree of efficiency into the way criminal cases are heard in the courts in Clare.

LAST Friday’s vote against altering the zoning of 24 acres of land in Clarecastle for the construction of a crematorium was the second time in just four days that councillors voted against crematorium plans, which the council planners had been in favour of.

While planning permission for the Clarecastle crematorium and grave- yard had not yet been granted, the proposed material contravention was the last obstacle in the way of planners issuing a green light for the proposal.

At Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council, councillors decided not to sell land for a crematorium in Shannon, even though the project had been granted permission by the local authority and the council had put the land up for sale earlier this year.

The land, which is located at Illaun- managh in Shannon, was purchased by Clare County Council from Shannon Development in 2002, with planning permission granted for the creation of a crematorium in March of 2009. A proposal to sell the land was opposed by Shannon Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) who claimed that the land should be kept in local authority ownership and for the future use of the people of the Shannon area.

Cllrs Flynn’s proposal not the sell the land was then opposed by his neighbouring councillor, PJ Ryan (Ind) from Sixmilebridge, who argued that a Clare businessman should not be prevented from developing a legitimate business on the site.

The vote was held to decide the situation with the councillors voting by 14 votes to 11 to retain the land in council ownership.

The land was granted planning permission in March of 2009, with both the Shannon local area members and a full meeting of Clare County Coun- cil voting to sell the 1.29 acre site to Illaunmanagh Ltd for € 140,000 later that year.

The purchase of land never took place however and in March of last year a second developer, Jim Cranwell, applied for an extension of the planning permission for the crematorium. The land was offered for sale by Clare County Council at this time with Mr Cranwell making an offer of € 140,000 – the same amount offered in 2009.

THE head of An Post, Christoph Meuller, has been called to appear before next month’s meeting of Clare County Council to outline the State organisations strategy towards post office in Clare.

The moves comes in the wake of ongoing feats over the future of the Cratloe Post Office, which is cur – rently not clear.

This follows a put forward by Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council.

“I think that it is high time that An Post came out and give an idea about their strategy regarding the future of the post office network in Clare. They speak of viability, but the very post offices which seem to be threatened are viable operations,” said Cllr Crowe.

“Basically, if your local post matter become ill or moves away, then the whole postal service in your area become suddenly under threat.”

Representative of the Cratloe Post Office Action Group have their final proposal for the retention of the post office to An Post last Friday and there is no indication yet whether this service will be retained.

The future of Cratloe post office came into doubt in late June an An Post review of operations found that the post offices was not generating enough income to justify keeping it open.

The Cratloe Post Office Action Group has gathered thousands of signatures locally from people and businesses who are pledging to use the post office more often.

The action group have proposed a five year trail period with An Post, to allow local people to support their post office and increase usage numbers.

The Cratloe Post Office Action Group say they will take to the streets if necessary to protest for the retention of their post office.

The Midwest representative of the Irish Postmasters’ Union, Kildysart native Tom O’Callaghan, has called on the government to allocate more services to post offices in a bid to maintain their viability.

A SPECIAL meeting will take place in Ennis this Friday to determine whether Clare County Council will change the zoning of a section of land in Ennis to allow for the construction of a € 5 million crematorium and large graveyard.

Councillors at yesterday’s July meeting of Clare County Council decided to defer a decision on whether to make a material contravention of Ennis and Environs Development Plan in order to allow the project to go forward.

The project, which has been proposed by Fenloe Properties Ltd, could see the development of a crematorium as well a massive graveyard to accomodate almost 4,000 graves.

Should it go ahead, the project would include the construction of a gated entrance, driveway and carpark, a chapel with ancillary reception, offices and toilets, a furnace, a remembrance and memorial garden and a waste water treatment unit and percolation area at a site at Ballaghfadda on the Kildysart Road in Ennis.

A number of local undertaker, headstone makers and other people involved in the funeral industry in Clare were present at yesterdays meeting.

Indeed, the meeting was adjourned for 10 minutes to allow councillors to consult with industry members before a decision could be made.

It was also confirmed that the proposal could see the creation of as many as 3,827 individual graves. This number would likely be reduced by more than 650 however, as the developers would be prevented from placing graves within a certain distance from local monuments.

“Some of us are not well briefed in this. We are not fully aware of what will happen at this area in the future. This is a big issue and something you cant rush into. I would like a special meeting called next Friday make a decision on it,” said Cllr Joe Cooney (FG).

Cllr Cooney was supported by Ennis based Cllr Pat Daly (FF) who said that the decision was too important to get wrong and that councillors be “fully briefed” on the issue.

A special meeting of Clare County Council will now take place this Friday at 9.30am with the proposed zoning change the only item on the agenda.

LOCAL councillors have condemned the vandalism of flower baskets in a residential area of Ennis at the weekend.

A number of baskets were upturned in the Turnpike area on Sunday night. The incident occurred at a time of the year when judging traditionally takes place for the National Tidy Towns competition.

The matter was raised at yesterday’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District Committee. Councillor James Breen (Ind) said he wanted to condemn the “mindless vandalism” that occurred in the Turnpike on Sunday night.

He said he hoped the people who committed the damage are found and brought to justice.

Cllr Pat Daly (FF) said he was “appalled” by what happened in the Turnpike on Sunday.

“It was disgraceful, what happened,” he added.

He said he hoped such mindless vandalism would not deter from the efforts of local community groups who are involved in work for the National Tidy Town’s competition.

Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) said she also condemned the vandalism. She questioned if the Ennis MDC had invited the Chief Supt of the Clare Garda Division, John Kerin, to meet with councillors to discuss issues around crime in the town.

Director of Service Ger Dollard told the meeting that gardaí have always been happy to engage and meet with the Council.

Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said it might be possible to arrange a meeting for September.

He said the MDC should also consider establishing a forum similar to the Joint Policing Committees that existed under the old forms of local government.

There were also calls to open gates at Drumcliffe graveyard on Sunday mornings.

Cllr Daly said that many elderly people find it difficult to walk up the graveyard.

Earlier this year, Ennis Town Council revealed it had started to restrict access to the graveyard to prevent vehicles from damaging the graveyards.

There were also reports of anti-social behaviour and intimidation of people visiting the area.

Cllr Mary Howard (FG) told yesterday’s meeting there was some merit to keeping the gates closed.

She said she had witnessed some altercations at Drumcliffe over the last year.

“It can be very frightening there at times,” she added.

Cllr Daly proposed the council consider opening the gates to allow for vehicular access between 11am and 1pm on Sundays.

THE POTENTIAL development of a multi-billion oil and natural gas well off the Clare coast has hit a major set back – which could delay any exploration of the Spanish Point or Burren off shore wells by a number of years.

Drilling work was due to take place at the Spanish Point field, located in the Porcupine Basic off the Clare coast this Spring.

Irish company, Providence Resources, who are leading up the exploration operation off the Clare coast have announced a delay of at least a year.

The company had previously announced a partnership with Cairn Energy, who would undertake the drilling at the site. However, as a result of delays to a refurbishment of the rig, the project operator have been forced to cancel the rig contract.

As a result of this cancellation, Providence Resources will have to open a new tender for an industry drill-partner which prevent any drilling taking place until 2015 at the earliest.

The company has however decided to go ahead with its planned 3D seismic scanning of the area which should reveal more information about how much oil and gas reserves are contained in the Spanish Point field.

“The postponement of appraisal drilling at Spanish Point is regrettable and beyond the control of the partnership,” commented Chief Executive of Providence Resources, Tony O’Reilly, who is a son of Tony O’Reilly the former head of Independent Newspapers and CEO of Heinz.

“As the rig refurbishment delays became apparent, the operator evaluated various options to re-schedule the Blackford Dolphin rig and to secure another drilling unit for 2014, but this proved unsuccessful.

“Our ability to commence drilling in the autumn was further constrained by the rig’s operational capabilities at the Spanish Point location during winter and thus the decision was taken to terminate the contract and seek a new drilling unit for 2015.

“This procurement process has commenced and we will provide further updates as they are confirmed by the operator,” O’Reilly said during the week.

It is believed that there is a vast natural gas reserve contained in the Burren and Spanish Point wells with previous estimated suggesting that they contained enough natural gas to meet Ireland entire needs for more then 70 years.

THE NATIONAL Parks and Wildlife Service [NPWS] have confirmed that illegal deer poaching in taking place in parts of Clare – but cannot comment as to whether the problem is getting worse.

This comes in the wake of an incident in the Whitegate area last month when a horse was shot dead on private property by suspected poachers.

It has also been reported locally that shooting, and night shooting in particular, is continuing in areas of the county even though the shooting season for deer has long closed – and that some people are even shooting illegally from the back of moving vehicles.

East Clare residents have also expressed their concern that poachers, using high powered rifles to shoot at night, could pose a serious risk to public health.

“We do get reports of illegal hunting. Shooting at night is illegal.

“Discharging a fire arm from a public roadway is also illegal but that would be a matter for the gardaí to deal with.

“Shooting from a moving vehicle is also illegal and would be a matter for the gardaí if done from a public road, shooting from a vehicle off-road is something that we [NPWS] would look at under the Wildlife act,” said Seamus Hassett, District Conservation Officer for the NPWS.

“We mount patrols in conjunction with the gardaí and sometimes on our own but in relation to going to court, evidence has to be gathered and you would need to have a robust and strong enough case to take them to court.

“That would entail evidence, either physical or others.

“I cannot really comment on whether the problem is getting worse in Clare or not.

“You hear anecdotal evidence that deer numbers are decreasing in some areas and also that they are increasing in others.

“So it is very difficult to give an accurate answer. But we are aware of an element of what we would consider taking place in Clare.”

Fears have been raised about the dangers of night hunting in parts of Clare – with poachers using rifled that can kill from a number of kilometres away.

The National Parks and Wildlife Service have confirmed that, under current legislation, there is no maximum power of rifle than can be used. “There is no upper limit to how powerful the rifles can be – there is a minimum power. The rifles must be of at least a .22 caliber with a minimum grain weight of 64 grains and a minimum muzzle velocity of 1700 foot pounds.

The idea of this is to insure that the rifle is powerful enough to insure that animal is dispatched humanely,” said Mr Hassett.