Tag Archives: public meeting

An emergency public meeting will take place in Kinvara this Friday concerning the proposed development of a large, 26 acre fish farm at Aughinish on the border between Clare and Galway. The meeting is being organised by the Aughinish Bay Community Group, who say the local community is shocked and upset by the proposed development. Galway based company, Sliogeisc Siar Teoranta, lodged applications for both a foreshore license and an aquaculture license in 2019. The Department of Agriculture refused the application for the aquaculture license in November 2020, primarily on the grounds of the damage the development would do the delicate ecosystem in Aughinish Bay. This decision was later appealed to the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board, which overturned the Department of the Environment ruling in January 2023. Sliogeisc Siar Teoranta have now appealed for a foreshore license, which will be needed to develop the fish farm, and the Aughinish Bay Community Group are encouraging local people to oppose this application. …

AHEAD of a community meeting in Bodyke on the recent grant of planning permission to a 19-turbine wind farm on the slopes of Slieve Bernagh, the developers have responded to concerns raised by a local TD. FuturEnergy Ireland – a joint renewables venture between the ESB and Coillte – said in a statement that the Community Benefit Fund “is contingent on the project being built and constructed as per the application and planning conditions”. However, the company added that it is “exploring options to bring forward a portion of the anticipated fund”.  Earlier this month, Deputy Michael McNamara called on the developers to honour a promise to fund local sports clubs, even in the event of a legal challenge to the project. Planning permission was issued by An Bord Pleanála on September 29, subject to 20 conditions. In a response to a query from The Champion, the company said it has asked to meet Deputy McNamara to discuss the project …

A PUBLIC information session will be held on the proposed upgrade of Main Street in Scariff at the Killaloe Municipal District Office in Scarriff on Wednesday, February 22, from 5pm to 8pm. The proposed works, which are being carried out by Clare County Council under the town and village renewal scheme and overseen by the planning department of the local authority, will include road and footpath alignment works to improve safety and accessibility of all users, and hard and soft landscaping works. Clare County Council says the proposed public realm enhancement scheme is being guided by the Scariff Tidy Towns and Environmental Improvement Strategy, which was developed in 2013 in consultation with various community groups. The €111,764 project is 85% funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and is expected to be completed by mid-2017. The development is one of four community infrastructure projects in Shannon, Kilkee, Clarecastle and Scariff benefitting from funding under the Town and …

The board of directors of Ennistymon Community Centre will meet next week to discuss the outcome of a public meeting about the centre, which was held in the town earlier this week. According to a statement from the board, its members are “at a complete loss” to understand some of the allegations being made about the centre and its governance. A public meeting was held in The Falls Hotel on Monday, organised by a newly-formed group called the Ennistymon Community Action Group. The group was set up “in response to concerns in the greater parish and community about the current vitality of the Community Centre”. The board of directors of Ennistymon Parish Project Community Centre Ltd did not attend the meeting but refuted claims the centre was unavailable to clubs, that it was alienating young people and that it was not meeting its objectives. The board acknowledged that it had been invited to Monday’s public meeting but declined to go, …

A PUBLIC meeting focused on saving rural and urban post offices and retaining social welfare payment services through the post office is taking place in the West County Hotel this Thursday at 8pm. Postmasters all over Ireland are worried that post office services in communities are under threat. The meeting is organised on the back of a major campaign instigated by the Irish Postmaster’s Union (IPU), which represents 1,100 people throughout the country, demanding the Government produce an action plan to ensure the sustainability of the Post Office network. The nationwide campaign began last Sunday in Sligo and a series of meetings of postmasters is currently underway across the country. Brian McMahon of Feakle Post Office, the second-oldest post office in County Clare after Killaloe, has said the concern is that there is a move to have social welfare and pension payments made directly into bank accounts. “A motion goes before the Dáil next week in support of the postmasters. …