*Abbey St car park is among the most contentious items of the Ennis 2040 strategy.
ELECTED MEMBERS of Clare County Council have said there is a vacuum of information when it comes to Ennis 2040 while attempts by a Fine Gael councillor to block debate on the subject was overruled by Fianna Fáil councillors.
Interest rates have jumped according to councillors who queried the financial structure of the Ennis 2040 DAC.
Of the approved loan of €10m for the creation of the Ennis 2040 DAC, Clare County Council as of December 31st 2024 has drawn this down in two tranches which have been drawn for twenty years at a fixed interest rate of 2.6 percent to 3.25 percent for the first three years interest only.
Head of Finance with Clare County Council, Noeleen Fitzgerald who is also a board member on the DAC confirmed, “this cost in the first three years to the Council is €130,000 per annum interest on the €5m drawn initially and from 1/1/2025 €296k interest only on the €10m”.
As of 31st December, a total of €2.2m has been advanced to Ennis 2040 DAC by this Council for the purpose of funding the work programme underway. “This cost to date by Ennis 2040 DAC is circa €95k interest. It is planned for the remaining €7.5m to be drawn in 2025 on demand and interest will be calculated thereon,” she said.
The €10m loan was drawn down at a fixed interest rate of 2.6 percent for the first three years, the cost to date of this is approximately €95,000. Fitzgerald said when the full €10m is drawn down “the indicative repayments per annum based on the current interest rate is €650,000 per annum subject to the timelines of project delivery”.
At this week’s meeting of Clare County Council, Cllr Tom O’Callaghan asked for a discussion on the €10m loan regarding its cost, duration, schedule of repayments, the assets owned by Ennis 2040 DAC, the purpose of the loans and potential liabilities and to know if the Council is “financially liable in any event of unfortunate financial misadventure”.
Regarding the value of fixed assets and current assets of Ennis 2040 DAC is €2.24m “offset by the loan balance of €2.2m,” the Head of Finance stated. She said funds drawn down to date “have been applied to the design, planning and progression of key projects” such as Abbey Street, Francis Street, Harvey’s Quay and the Post Office Field”. Company set up, ongoing operation costs and overheads have also formed part of the expenditure.
Costs for the four projects mentioned are carried as preliminary expenditure work in progress on the balance sheet of Clare County Council, a total of €5.15m preliminary expenditure is carried on the books of the Council which is not DAC activity. Fitzgerald advised, “at this juncture the entity has as yet nt progressed significantly any of its own sites that will be a draw on the loan approved. The primary activity to date has been on Council owned sites which is indicative of the turnover of the entity to date”. She confirmed the Council “is liable for the financial activity on its own books, the preliminary expenditure incurred to date and also for the loan that has been drawn by the Council and advanced to its subsidiary”.
Speaking on Monday, Cllr O’Callaghan said the interest rate has increased from 2 percent to between 2.6 to 3.2 percent while he calculated that the quoted cost of €611,000 is now going to hit €650,000. “I don’t see details on how we’re going to repay and where the income is going to come from,” he said. The Kildysart native noted that there has been “significant public disagreement with what has been proposed, our stakeholders need to be involved”.
Seconding the proposal, Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) praised his colleague for asking “a very worthwhile question”. He commented, “I’m not a financial person and I’ve no money myself but for love nor money I wouldn’t lend €10m if you were not outlining how it would be paid back”. He said, “this DAC business in my opinion to date has failed and failed again, I’d question the continuation of this failure”. He felt it was time to “cut our losses, close the DAC and take back the running of our town”.
Discussing the matter was “in breach of standing orders” claimed Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) as he looked for the debate to be shut down. “This is a question not a notice of motion,” he said. “The meeting is illegal by discussing this,” he added.
Cathaoirleach of the Council, Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF) said a printing error meant the letter M and not Q went after O’Callaghan’s proposal which then allowed for the debate to be held, “I do 100% agree with you. In the interest of fairness in making a mistake, it went to print as a motion, we want to give it as it is”.
Former Mayor, Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) criticised the first citizen, “you’re not going to change the remit of this halfway though, you’ve already allowed two speakers”. Cllr Murphy then replied, “are you happy to proceed by breaking standing orders” to which O’Brien stressed the matter was of significant countywide interest given the “very public funding” behind the DAC, “my colleague has a very legitimate motion”.
“We badly need to look at our standing orders and implement them, otherwise this is turning into a circus,” responded Cllr Murphy. “I have a huge issue with public money given to private companies to spend on our behalf,” Cllr O’Brien said. “This is our forum, I disagree with Paul, this is our only time to speak on this in the forum,” he added while pointing out that commitments to have regular briefings on Ennis 2040 have not been honoured. He added, “The cost to date of Ennis 2040 is €95k interest and the plan is for the remaining €10m to be drawn down in 2025, what is the €7.8m for? I should be informed what this is for, this is my chance to find out. It is a legitimate motion”.
Ennis 2040 is “a hugely important issue for our county, for our county town and the way we carry out our business, Cllr O’Brien nailed it on the head, this shouldn’t be one of the occasions where us as elected members have to try get into the detail” maintained Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG). “If I’m in governance over something then I’ve no problem with that but I really like to know what I’m in governance over, I am fully supportive of strategic vehicles”.
There are positive aspects to the strategy but plans for Abbey Street and Harvey’s Quay need to be removed, Cllr Pat Daly (FF) argued.
Elected members need a detailed breakdown on all expenditure since the founding of Ennis 2040, “I am asking for the information to be provided as was agreed,” Cllr O’Callaghan stressed. “We are dealing with public money and we all want value for public money,” he added.
Interim Chief Executive Carmel Kirby confirmed a behind closed doors workshop would be held with Ennis MD councillors on March 4th and with all councillors on March 24th. She said the strategy was developed “with a huge amount of stakeholder engagement”. The DAC is “wholly owned” by the Council, she stressed. Clare’s disposable income is 11.5% less than the State average, Kirby said when outlining the importance of such an economic strategy for the county town.
“I’m satisfied that the DAC is doing extremely good work, it is activating the market place, we will have more to say about that at March workshop, the funding is to be spent wisely, it is unfair to call it a failure, I know some people might not agree with the ideas of DAC, we’ve nine or eleven of them working across the county working across the county,” she added.
O’Callaghan as proposer of the motion was not allowed the final say as per standing orders but this was not commented on by Fine Gael members.
