Minutes of Kilkee Town Council held on Monday 6th April 2009 at Sweeney Memorial Library, Kilkee at 8:30 p.m.

Cathaoirleach sa Cathair

• Cllr. P.J. Linnane

I Láthair

• Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan
• Cllr. T. Nolan
• Cllr. M. Martin
• Cllr. B. Keane
• Cllr. C. Haugh
• Cllr. P.J Lardner

Apologies

• Cllr. M. McGrath
• Cllr. C Deloughery

I Láthair

• Nora Kaye Acting Director of Services Housing and Social Policy
• John Corry Acting Town Clerk

Apologies

• Derek Troy

Minutes

Cllr. P.J. Linnane asked if there were any matters arising from the Minutes.
Cllr T. Nolan looked for an update regarding the Kilkee Courthouse. 
N. Kaye indicated that she had discussed same with Michael McNamara in Clare County Council and that he had advised that it was not possible to vest the ownership of the courthouse in Kilkee Town Council, however an invitation would be given to bodies to make a submission to use the courthouse in a way that would be appropriate to community development.  She added that Kilkee Town Council could make a submission, once same was advertised, as to how the building could be restored over a period of years and the benefits that it would bring to the community.
Cllr. P.J. Linnane suggested that Kilkee Town Council should make a submission in conjunction with the Kilkee Civic Trust and the Kilkee Tidy Towns Committee, in light of the fact that it couldn’t be vested to Kilkee Town Council.
Cllr. M. Martin suggested that there would be a museum upstairs with the archives of the Town Council.  He also felt that it was important that the Kilkee Councillors would have a permanent home there of their own.
Cllr. P.J. Linnane agreed, that it was important that records be accessed locally.
Cllr T. Nolan said that that was very good news and he felt that it was important that the useful ownership of the building would still be in the communities grasp.
Cllr. P.J. Linnane suggested that Kilkee Town Council should prepare a draft submission by meeting with the Tidy Towns Committee and the Civic Trust.
 N. Kaye said it would be the June Meeting of Clare County Council at the earliest before same would be dealt with. She added that 10 clear days notice had to be given to Clare Councillors for a Section.183 agreement for the disposal or lease of property.
Cllr T. Nolan queried as to whether an application could be made to The Heritage Council now that ownership of the courthouse could not be vested in Kilkee Town Council.
N. Kaye replied that an application could go in the name of Clare Local Authorities. 
Cllr. P.J. Linnane said he represented the Council on the Community and Culture SPC so he said he could explore that with Catherine O’Hara.  He also suggested that with the consent of the Council he could make a proposal to that committee, for funding. 
This was agreed.
J. Corry confirmed that a response from J. Bradley indicated that the field adjacent to the Pollock Holes was zoned green area and that it would be retained as open space and that the only provision, during the lifetime of the current plan, was for a possible walk way from the Carrigaholt Road to the Diamond Café. This would only be with the consent of the relevant landowners.
Cllr T. Nolan said there were some pathways and gravelled areas from the Cois Farraige Festival as well as a couple of caravans parked there which put a little bit of blight on its green field status.  He wanted to know what the view of Clare County Council was with regard to that as it could prejudice the status of the site.
J. Corry indicated that he would go back and clarify same with J. Bradley and that he would update the members at the next meeting.
Cllr T. Nolan raised the matter of the possible pedestrianisation of the area beyond Sykes Corner in the West End and beyond the Golf Course in the East End during the summer time.
J. Corry confirmed that it was agreed at the previous meeting that Derek Troy would examine same and would report back to the members with regard to how practical this proposal would be.  He added that he had spoken to Derek on the matter and that it would require a detailed design and that it should be dealt with as part of a review of the Kilkee Traffic Management Plan, but that wasn’t likely to happen in 2009.
Cllr T. Nolan said he felt people would not be that put out if they had to park in the Well Road car park if it preserved the amenity of the Pollock Holes area.  He indicated that there shouldn’t be a problem at the East End.
Cllr. P.J. Linnane suggested that this could be something that could be dealt with as part of a review of the Traffic Management Plan.
The Minutes of the April monthly meeting were proposed for adoption by Cllr. M. Martin and seconded by Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan.

Election Postering

J. Corry indicated that he had put same on the agenda as it had been raised and discussed at the September 08 meeting of the Council and what had been decided on then was that election postering should be restricted to a certain designated area in the town and that also the size of the posters should be restricted.  He asked the council if they now wanted to decide upon such a designated area.
Cllr. P.J. Linnane questioned if it fell within the remit of Kilkee Town Council to ban posters altogether.  He mentioned that some towns had a restriction on them altogether. 
J. Corry advised the members of updated legislation as part of the Electoral Amendment Act 2009, which indicated that election posters could only be put in place 30 days before polling day i.e. 6th May for the upcoming local elections.  He also added that the regulation that posters be removed 7 days after polling day remained the same.
Cllr. M. Martin said that the proliferation of posters don’t do anything to enhance the town.
Cllr. P.J. Linnane agreed.
J. Corry indicated that he would check to see if it was within the remit of Kilkee Town Council to ban election postering altogether in the town.
Cllr. C Haugh said she felt that election posters were part and parcel of any election campaign.  She felt that if the people who put up the posters were responsible enough to remove them afterwards she didn’t see a problem.  She added that in recent times that Kilkee was kept fairly tidy after election postering.  She suggested that a designated area should be proposed for postering. 
Cllr L. Marrinan Sullivan agreed and felt that it was important that the awareness of young people be brought to polling by putting up posters.  She felt that if the restricted times for putting up posters were complied with she didn’t foresee any difficulties.

Allenders Field

J. Corry indicated that he had put this on as a headed item as it had been raised at numerous previous meetings and he wanted to give an update on it to the members.  He added that on March 3rd 2009 the Head Gardener in Vandeleur Walled Garden, inspected Allenders Field together with Councillor Marrinan Sullivan and some members of Kilkee Tidy Towns Committee.  A report was compiled on his findings suggesting a number of plants that would be suitable to an environment such as Allenders Field.  He also indicated that shelter would be vital for plants there and suggested that this would be achieved by strategic placement of boulders, sleepers etc. J. Corry added that the rubbish which had been deposited in Allenders Field had been removed and that the subsidence at the bridge had been repaired.  He continued that 30 white beam trees had recently been planted there by Clare County Council Gardening Section and  that Clare County Council’s architect had also visited the site on the 24th of March and had also made recommendations regarding improvement of the site.  He added that he was fully committed to ensuring that Allenders Field was improved and restored and thereafter maintained and that a number of different parties were now working towards this objective.  He suggested that he would keep Allenders Field as a headed item on future Agendas to continue to update the members with regard to progress. 
Cllr L. Marrinan Sullivan said that was really good news.  She said that a number of different aspects of the town and Council working together with a common purpose was what was required.  She added that it was a project that would be worth doing and that it would take a longer period of time to get where we want but that it could be a beautiful amenity in the centre of the town.  She said that whilst there was work to be done there that it was not quite as bad as it looked and that the biggest element of the work would be the maintenance of it.  She agreed that Allenders Field should remain on the Agenda for future meetings
Cllr. T. Nolan said there had been a lot of local interest in looking after Allenders Field.  He said the infrastructure needed to be put in place to allow them to do this.  He added that that was the way of the future.  He said that the local people were waking up to the amenity that they had on their doorstep and that they would be prepared to look after it.  He suggested to keep a bit of pressure on this to see the project moved ahead. 
J. Corry added that he would.

Fix date for Information Seminar

N. Kaye said that she had proposed same to see if the elected members would be interested in meeting staff from Clare County Council to have an informal chat with them and to have them update them on legislation, policies, initiatives etc. She added that if the members were interested and they wanted to suggest a number of possible dates and times that she could go ahead and arrange a preliminary agenda.  She said that if they preferred maybe later in the year would be their preferred option.
Cllr. T. Nolan suggested that they wait until after the upcoming elections.
Cllr. P. J. Linnane suggested that it would be a good idea.
Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan agreed that it was a good idea but that to wait until after elections particularly as there may be some new elected members. 
N. Kaye said that she could come back to the members in July regarding same.

Notice of Motion submitted by Cllr. Marrinan Sullivan

"That Kilkee council be brought up to date on all works scheduled to take place between now and the June bank holiday weekend, including an update on the grass cutting contract."

Response submitted by Derek Troy, Executive Engineer.

The grass cutting contract for Kilkee for 2009 is currently being awarded and it is hoped that the first cut will take place before the Easter weekend.  One road within the Kilkee Town Council area has been listed on the Clare County Council 2009 Roadworks programme, which is the completion of the resurfacing from the Carrigaholt road roundabout R487 to the speed limit near the Moore Bay Holiday homes. This work will be undertaken when the water connections have been transferred to the newly laid watermain.
Under the footpath provisionand repair in former Town Commissioners that are now Town Councils grant, footpath works will be completed at Minister Place, Barrack Road and Circular Road, Clifton Terrace and West End, Railway Road, Carrigaholt Road and O’Connell Street. These works will be undertaken, where possible, prior to the peak season.
All beach shelters, public toilets and benches will be inspected, repaired and painted as required, as is done every year. The seasonal workers will assist in this work as well as the grass cutting in the immediate vicinity of the beach.
Any rubbish or litter that has been washed onto the beach will be removed over the next number of weeks, and the seaweed removal will begin as required prior to commencement of the Blue Flag bathing season.  The dam that is normally put in place on Victoria Stream will be constructed in the weeks leading up the bathing season also. It is also proposed to complete repair works on the concrete beach steps adjacent to the Waterworld, which was caused by flooding last year.
Response Ends

Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan said it was that time of year where we are coming into the season where we wanted Kilkee to looking its best.  She suggested that all housekeeping exercises are done for the purpose of Tidy Towns inspections etc. She added that she was quite happy with the Town Engineers response regarding that. She also added that the grass cutting contract be tied down earlier in the year to ensure that the grass is cut for Easter in future. 
Cllr. T. Nolan said that the grass cutting being done at the moment was being done by Jim Kerwin and that same was being done by him because of his pride in the town.  He said that he should be commended for his work. 
Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan agreed with Cllr. T. Nolan.

Notice of Motion submitted by Cllr. Haugh

"That Clare Co Council put a pedestrian crossing in place on the Carrigaholt road in the vicinity of Cluain na Mara."

Response submitted by Derek Troy, Executive Engineer .

This request has been forwarded to the Road Design Section of Clare County Council for a draft design to be drawn up.

Response Ends

Cllr. C. Haugh said that she brought this to the attention of the Council because the Cluain na Mara housing estate had a number of old people and people with children and that the main footpath leaving the estate didn’t join the existing footpath and that this was very  dangerous.  She said that the footpath needed to be put in here for the safety of people of the Cluain na Mara estate and that is why she proposed a pedestrian crossing at this location.  
     Cllr. B. Keane questioned as to whether or not the old path was still there. 
     Cllr. P.J. Linnane said that the old path was gone.
Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan, Cllr. T. Nolan and Cllr. P.J. Linnane agreed with the motion.
Cllr. T. Nolan said that there was a bigger issue here in that putting a footpath here would be impossible without narrowing the road because of the bridge.  He said it should be possible to put in place some timber or steel bridge inside the wall on the northern side of the bridge so that you could continue the pedestrian access without coming out on the road and this would not in any way impinge on the traffic flow. 
Cllr. C. Haughsaid that there was land available and questioned as to why the County Council had not purchased that land to continue the footpath.  She asked if the Town Manager could check that for the next meeting.
N. Kaye said that when estate was being constructed that they were in contact with road engineers regarding the road safety aspect of the estate and that she would get facts on this for the next meeting of the Council.

Notice of Motion submitted by Cllr. Haugh

"That Clare Co. Council apply tougher measures on people who fail to clean up after their pets while using public places."

Response submitted by Betty Devanny, AO, Environment and  Emergency Services, Clare County Council.

In reply to the above notice of motion I wish to state that the following powers are available to Clare Council Council:

• Enforce the Litter Pollution Acts 1997 - 2003 and issue litter fines.  The litter fine can only issue if the offence is observed by the Enforcement Officer.
  
• Appropriate signage can be put in place to inform the public that dog fouling is an offence on public places and that litter fines may issue.
  
• Unsupervised dogs come under the remit of the Control of Dogs Acts 1986/1992 and the County Dog Warden, Mr. Frankie Coote, enforces this legislation.
  
• The adoption of Beach Byelaws for Kilkee beach would address any issues regarding the control of dogs/horses on the beach and the promenade area.  Fines are payable under Beach Byelaws.  No such byelaws are in place at Kilkee beach at present.   Kilkee Town Council has the authority to adopt such byelaws.
   

 Response Ends

               Cllr. C. Haugh said she had been listening to ongoing complaints of people using the strandline, footpaths and promenade where dogs had been soiling these areas.  She suggested that people should be educated to clean up after their pets for everyone’s benefit.

              Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan agreed.  She suggested that maybe there should be some signage put up.  She said that she knew that there was some signage there but not on the Dunlickey Road and on the Cliff Walk .She added that if you had a dog you had a responsibility. 
             
              Cllr. T. Nolan asked if there were receptacles available for people to deposit the content.

              J. Corry confirmed that there were no such receptacles in Clare at present and that there may be Health and Safety issues regarding the disposal of the contents of these receptacles.

              Cllr. T. Nolan said that Kilkee Beach did not come under Clare County Council’s authority but rather that it came under the authority of Kilkee Town Council.

              J. Corry clarified that the adoption of Beach Bye Laws by Kilkee Town Council could be something that could help address this matter and he asked if the Council would be interested in considering Beach Bye Laws for Kilkee.

              Cllr. M. Martin said that that was one thing that this Council had control of.  He said he supported Cllr. Haughs motion but that he would not be in favour of Beach Bye Laws. He said he didn’t want dogs to be prevented from going on to the beach.  He said dogs were very important to people.

              Cllr. C. Haugh agreed that she would not agree with the introduction of Beach Bye Laws.

              Cllr. P.J. Linnane also agreed.

              Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan suggested that the presence of the dog warden might act as a deterrent. She added that there were also a lot of uncontrolled dogs in Kilkee.

              Cllr. T. Nolan said the loss of Blue Flag status in Kilkee might focus the minds a bit more i.e. less freedom for dogs, and more for human beings.  He said that the beach is one area where you didn’t want dogs fouling and that you have regulations regarding that, where retention of the blue flag is concerned.  He said that the members would have to bite the bullet regarding beach bye laws sooner rather that later.  

              Cllr. P.J. Linnane said that the litter and the pollution legislation would pertain to any public place and that the Control of Dogs Act would apply to the control of dogs in a public place.

               Cllr. T. Nolan queried if this legislation extended to the beach.  He said he thought that the beach was an exempted area.

J. Corry said that he would clarify if the beach as a public place would be controlled by the various legislation.

Notice of Motion submitted by Cllr. Haugh

"That a landing pad be constructed for the Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter"

Cllr. C. Haugh said that Kilkee needed a proper helicopter-landing pad.  She said that a designated area needed to be assigned as a helicopter-landing pad.  She added that all sources of funding needed to be sought regarding same.  She mentioned that talks were previously in hand regarding using a site in the vicinity of the golf club.

J. Corry said there were very few areas in the town where a helicopter could be accommodated and the beach and football field were two areas that a helicopter landing would be possible.  He added that this had been raised relatively recently by Kilkee Town Council and that as a result a request was sent to the Department and to the Health Service Executive to expedite the provision of a dedicated emergency medical helicopter for Kilkee and the West Clare Area.  He added that Clare County Council could work in partnership with other bodies regarding the establishment of a helicopter pad.

Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan suggested that the Garda Barracks in Kilkee could be utilised fully and that part of it could be handed over to the coastguard and that this could accommodate a helipad.  She said that the section of the building used by the Gardai was miniscule.

Cllr. P.J. Linnane said that this was explored before and the Department of Justice refused.

Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan said she would support Cllr. Haugh’s motion however she suggested that it was not good enough for the Department of Justice to refuse and that a follow on letter should be sent to the Minister for Justice regarding same and that the support of the local TD’s be sought. 

Cllr. T. Nolan said there would be no way that a Coastguard helicopter would be allowed to land on the grounds of a built up area.  He said however that it was vital that a dedicated helipad be provided in Kilkee for a dedicated emergency helicopter and emergency medical service and that not just to be reliant on the Coastguard helicopter.

Correspondence

All motions circulated from Kilrush Town Council were supported by the members. 

Cllr. P.J. Linnane asked if Kilkee Town Council wanted to submit a motion regarding the upcoming AMAI conference.

 Cllr. P.J.  Lardner advised that whatever motion would be submitted that chances were that it would already have been submitted by another Local Authority.  He did add that it would be national as opposed to local issues that would be dealt with.

Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan supported the motion from Monaghan Town Council.

 A.O.B.

Cllr. P.J. Lardner said he would like to have a letter sent to Bus Eireann asking them to discontinue selling tickets in Cork and Dublin for people who were coming to Kilkee.  He said in his experience in the last few weeks, he had seen people stranded in Ennis station and having to get a taxi to Kilrush and Kilkee and that this was happening on a weekly basis.

Cllr. L. Marrinan Sullivan and Cllr P.J.Linnane agreed.

J. Corry reminded all Councillors that hadn’t yet returned their donation statements that they need to do so within the next few days.

As there was no further business the meeting concluded.