*Ennis 2040.
FIGURES regarding the planned expenditure of Ennis 2040 “aren’t adding up,” a former Mayor of Clare has said.
In June 2021, elected members of Clare County Council voted to draw down a €10m loan. Five representatives at the time voted against the proposal, they were Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF), Gerry Flynn (IND), Donna McGettigan (SF), PJ Kelly (FF) and Susan Crawford (GP).
To date, €2.2m has been spent on the controversial economic and spatial strategy.
Of the five, Cllr O’Brien is the only one still to sit on the local authority. Following up on questions from Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) who was co-opted to the Council subsequent to the June 2021 meeting, the Killaloe man said the minutes from the February meeting did not include a query he made on what projects are in mind for spending the remaining €7.8m on.
“I’m reading all sorts in the media on what is planned and what is not planned, I’m concerned €7.8m will be drawn down and I’m twice as concerned with what came out of the Council meeting, €7.8m is reported to be the amount left in the Ennis 2040 fund,” he commented. Cllr O’Brien remarked, “it seems to me only €2.5m is left, we need to have a meeting and have discussions to tease these out, these figures aren’t adding up, I’m concerned that we are answerable as the elected body for what is going on”.
He continued, “I asked for a breakdown of the proposed projects, it is not noted in the minutes that I asked, it is very relevant for this forum”. He continued, “some councillors got a briefing, I wasn’t let back in last month (to ask a follow-up question), this forum should have been briefed”.
Interim Chief Executive of the Council, Carmel Kirby in response said all councillors will be invited to attend a behind-closed-doors workshop on March 24th.
“Will any of €7.8m be spent before the meeting,” Cllr O’Brien questioned. “We’ll discuss all that at the workshop,” the Mayor replied.
Head of Finance, Noeleen Fitzgerald said explanations have already been provided to councillors at the November behind closed doors meeting regarding the expenditure and the costs associated with sites, some of which are already in the Council’s ownership.
Standing orders were not followed when the matter was raised, Cllr T O’Callaghan flagged. “The concern in my motion and by standing orders which colleague forwarded, I wasn’t brought in to sum up, we need to ensure that is allowed at all times, I didn’t get the opportunity to sum up”.
Councillors are finding out about Ennis 2040 via the media, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) claimed. “The issue here is while we’re waiting to have a briefing, we’ve read the majority of it in the media which is not the ideal way of doing business”. He continued, “We’re all part of the Council body here, we should review how we do that business, I was of the belief that the briefing in Ennis was behind closed doors. We’re playing catch-up as councillors in the county, people asking me in Ennis what was happening over the weekend and I really didn’t know”.
Acting Director of Economic Development, Seán Lenihan said the Ennis MD briefing was “in-camera, we were asked by councillors to put something into public domain. We will be able to go into far more detail”. He said some of the projects “are still going through due process, there is commercial sensitivity to it, once we’re in position to advise you we can”.
