*Mayor of Clare, Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF) criticised those questioning the Ennis 2040 plans.
ALMOST HALF of Clare’s county councillors were absent for Monday’s behind closed doors workshop discussing the future of the Ennis 2040 strategy.
Fifteen county councillors failed to attend the briefing which was aimed to update all elected members on future plans for the economic and spatial strategy.
Among the absentees were Cllr Mary Howard (FG) and Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF), both of whom have sat on the Board of Ennis 2040 DAC since its inception. The duo attended a similar briefing with Ennis MD councillors this month.
Only one of the seven councillors in the Shannon Municipal District were in attendance with Cllr Michael Begley (IND), Cllr John Crowe (FG), Cllr Rachel Hartigan (FF), Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG), Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) and Cllr James Ryan (SF) failing to attend the workshop.
Within the West Clare Municipal District, Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG), Cllr Dinny Gould (IND), Cllr Joe Killeen (FF), Cllr Ian Lynch (IND) and Cllr Bill Slattery (FG) were not present.
All five councillors in the Killaloe Municipal District were present for the meeting with Interim Chief Operating Officer, Padraic McElwee.
County councillors who did turn up for the briefing were Cllr Antoinette Baker Bashua (FF), Cllr Pat Burke (FG), Cllr Pat Daly (FF), Cllr David Griffin (FF), Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF), Cllr Pat Hayes (FF), Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG), Cllr Rita McInerney (FF), Cllr Paul Murphy (FG), Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF), Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF), Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF), Cllr Conor Ryan (FG), Cllr Michael Shannon (FF) and Cllr Shane Talty (FF).
Ennis based Cllr Baker Bashua said the briefing “overall was positive” and she praised the decision to include all councillors on the workshop.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Cllr Tom O’Callaghan said he asked the Interim COO “to request the board of Ennis 2040 DAC to stop all proposed development s in the two town centre riverside carparks and drop construction including boardwalk planned for post office field. I also said to Carmel Kirby costly mistakes have happened that need to be acknowledged and move on constructively in the best interest of our town. Unless the mistakes are acknowledged I’m leaving this room with my fellow colleagues no better informed nor our concerns addressed than when we entered the room. We need to work together in a positive way so again to state we are trying to move on collectively and in a progressive manner”.
Prior to the briefing, Save Ennis Town wrote to all 28 county councillors requesting their support “to help ensure a ‘stop’, not a ‘pause’, to any further expenditure of time, energy and in particular public money on the unwanted and ill-conceived Clare County Council / Ennis 2040 DAC plans to build on two of the most significant public spaces in the town of Ennis.
“As well as providing much needed parking capacity vital to the survival of the town, the Abbey Street and Parnell Street car parks also serve as hugely important riverside civic spaces, as seen most recently during last week’s St.Patrick’s Day parade and evidenced by major public events over the years including Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.
“It is worth noting that the town centre spaces on which these two car parks were developed were purchased by the Council in the 1960’s with the intended purpose, as stated in the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) at the time, to provide car parking facilities for the town, and not for the purposes of commercial development which is what Ennis 2040 DAC now propose.
“Currently, the two car parks contribute well over €333,000 in income annually for use in the budget of Clare County Council. As a community based group, Save Ennis Town fully supports the future development of Ennis and acknowledges the many positive aspects of the Ennis 2040 proposals. However, we regard the plans for our two riverside car parks as misguided and potentially destructive to the social and economic fabric of our town,” the correspondence detailed.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, the Mayor of Clare, Cllr Alan O’Callaghan said Ennis 2040 was “the only show in town. We all know Ennis looks to be struggling even from a socialising place in the evening time it seems to be struggling from what I can see when I go to town, this is the only show in town and we want the betterment for the town, there’s a narrative knocking this but what is the alternative, sometimes what the DAC are trying to do and show is putting fire under people that have been sitting on properties for years and ignite them to get off their ass and do something, the DAC is helping the private sector of the town to get them moving. It is time to shut up with the negative talk of Ennis, there’s no winners in it, get on with it and let everyone work together, not a minority beating the drum all the time”.
He believed the councillors that missed the briefing “should have made an attempt to come”.
On the correspondence from Save Ennis Town, the Mayor said, “What is the difference between passed and stopped, there is no difference in my eyes, it is parked and leave it that way, if we need to revisit it then we will”. He added, “You can’t fill the bathwater until the baby is born. A lot of what the DAC was trying to do has spurred people on”.
