*Kilrush Town Hall.
KILRUSH’s economic growth will be among the first items that the newly appointed Chief Executive of Clare County Council will be pressed for a commitment on.
Tuamgraney native Gordon Daly is expected to be in place as Chief Executive within the next six weeks. Before his arrival, a commitment has been sought to address dereliction and economic growth in Kilrush.
In a proposal before the West Clare Municipal District, Cllr Ian Lynch pushed for a co-ordinated review from the incoming Chief Executive outlining the Council’s commitment to the Kilrush Maritime Training Centre, Mars cinema project, public realm works on Frances Street and the Town Square plus efforts to aid Kilrush Tidy Towns’ scooping national honours.
Senior executive officer in the West Clare MD, John O’Malley confirmed the proposal would be forwarded to the new Chief Executive “once they are in place”. He said, “The recent formation of the new Kilrush Town Team is key to progressing plans for the delivery of the overall Masterplan for Kilrush, working with Grainne Hassett and her team from Hasset Ducatez Architects and the Council’s Town Centre First team. A cross-Directorate approach to the delivery of projects linked to this plan is key and the West Clare MD are working with various departments, focusing on the projects that will have the most significant effect on addressing dereliction and economic growth for the town”.
O’Malley added, “There are challenges involved in progressing the larger scale projects, especially from a support funding perspective and competing projects throughout the county”.
Frustration prompted Cllr Lynch to table the motion. “Every time a project seems to be announced it is for Ennis, that’s great for the county town but it means all the resources are going to Ennis”.
He recalled his first election to the Council in 2014 and a subsequent special meeting with former Directors, Ger Dollard and Leonard Cleary where he was told he was “one hundred percent right” that Kilrush was due investment. “They said once Parnell Street was sorted that Kilrush was next in line but they’ve done O’Connell Street, the laneways and bowways and now they can’t decide if they want a car park or not in Ennis”.
“Great fanfare” associated the launch of the Kilrush Maritime Training Centre but the project “is on pause now,” Lynch lamented, “I understand they have to wash their face but this is a €10m project”. An update on the feasibility study and what efforts will be made with Mars cinema’s future must also be provided, he said.
When it comes to Tidy Towns, Ennis is also getting more than its fair share, he claimed. “The Director said they were setting up a cross-directorate to help Ennis Tidy Towns win the national Tidy Towns award, Kilrush is within a couple of points every year of winning the national award,” he pointed out while calling for additional support to help the volunteers achieve national glory.
He outlined, “the CEO is the one person who can make their mind up on this, we need to know if they are committed to it”. Hours were spent during the pandemic finalising applications “and we’ve been told not yet, I’m getting frustrated and I’m sick of it. We’re wasting our time if the CEO doesn’t commit to it, I’m tired of talking about it”.
Seconding the proposal, Cllr Bill Slattery (FG) said he as a member of the Southern Regional Assembly was not informed the Cloister project in Ennis was to be put forward as The Town Centre First Heritage Revival (THRIVE) application.
A strategy is needed for the MD, Cllr Shane Talty (FF) maintained. “For the Municipal District, we had a notional list of projects, we need something stronger, we need to follow the Killaloe Municipal District and come up with a strategy for our Municipal District, we have the Cliffs of Moher strategy coming but that is not the project. They have €15.2m got in Ennis and they haven’t agreed what to do with it. We need to agree what we want to do. It is a Kilrush proposal toay, I could write one tomorrow for Ennistymon or Ballyvaughan”.
Director of Tourism Development, Siobhán McNulty said she and her Social Development counterpart Jason Murphy met with the West Clare MD team “to set out our stall on developing a strategic working plan for the Municipal District, we will have a workshop of a document in next couple of weeks, we hear what you are saying”. She advised councillors Ennis was the only area eligible to apply for THRIVE. “We weren’t told that,” Cllr Slattery responded and the Director remarked, “it wasn’t that West Clare or North Clare was not included, they weren’t eligible”.
Over 1,200 people are employed in Kilrush according to the calculations of Cllr Michael Shannon (FF). “Kilrush needs these projects, it would inject confidence into the town, it needs a lot and number one I think is a hotel”.
Cathaoirleach of the West Clare MD, Cllr Rita McInerney (FF) stated, “it is a great town, it is the capital of West Clare”. She believed Vandeleur Walled Garden’s development “has done a lot of good for the town and there is more to happen”.
