On Tuesday’s Morning Focus John Cooke was joined on the line by Bunratty based Eoin Gavin is President of the Irish Road Hauliers’ Association
The IRHA say that €300 million a year is being lost to the exchequer from laundered fuel – Deloitte undertook research for them to indicate this and is calling for the department of finance to take action
Road tax went up €250 a truck in December’s budget -and Eoin says hauliers are finding it increasing difficult to do business in Ireland
Also, Eoin was recently told that he could only tax three commercial vehicles at a time in the Motor Tax office, he said this was non efficient and wrote to the Minister for the Environment and the County Manager on the issue.
Eddie Power, Senior Executive Officer of Human Resources at Clare County Council explained the council’s new system after the council reviewed the practice of restricting the processing of taxing commercial vehicles. Consequently, the cap on the number of commercial transactions that can be made by an individual at the public counters has been lifted
The policy review is part of ongoing efforts by the Motor Tax Office to meet the needs of all customers. To ensure waiting times are minimised, Clare County Council urges motorists to consider using alternative payment methods, including the online tax service which is operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at www.motortax.ie. Customers may also avail of the Motor Tax Department’s postal service.
A public consultation on the proposed Doolin Pier development will take place in Hotel Doolin tomorrow from 3:00 to 8:00 PM
The Local Authority is presently preparing an Environmental Impact Assessment in relation to proposals to provide significantly improved pier facilities at Doolin
Apart from the development put forward under previous planning proposals, alternative options are being considered
Tom Tiernan, Senior Engineer with Clare County Council, encouraged any interested parties to attend.
Last week Clare Guidance Counsellors protested at Leinster House over budget cuts that could severely curtail their role
Up until now schools got one or more counsellor based on numbers but from September they must be allocated from existing numbers and counsellors believe that principals will be under strong pressure to favour subject teaching over counselling
The Education Bill was before the Dail last Wednesday and members of the Irish Guidance Counsellors Association were in the public gallery to show their opposition to the cuts.
Clare spokesperson and counsellor at Mary Immaculate in Lisdoonvarna Bernie Lynch says a reduction in their services will impact negatively on students
John was joined in studio by two Clare guidance counsellors, Aoibhinn Bert of Kilkee Community College and Olivia O’Connor of St Joseph’s Secondary School, Tulla.
Sinead Kenny of McMahon & Williams Solicitors in Kilrush and a volunteer solicitor with the Free Legal Advice Clinic at the Clare Citizens Information Centre joined John for our weekly legal advice slot
Sinead discussed the recent changes in stamp duty and taxation in relation to transfer of farms.
Philip O’Connor is a Dubliner who immigrated to Sweden in 1999. He plays Gaelic football for Stockholm GAA club, of which he was a founder member. Their local derby rivals are Gothenburg, 500 kilometres away
All over Europe, Irish ex-pats are playing Gaelic football, sometimes augmented by locals or by Australians (Aussie rules experience comes in handy here), or Americans. There is a whole network of GAA clubs across the Continent and they even have their own administrative structure, called the European County Board. This is true, but not many people know it. Philip O’Connor’s A Parish Far from Home is an account of one year in the life of one player and one club in one country. You wouldn’t normally associate the GAA with Sweden or with continental Europe generally but it’s there, wherever there are Irish exiles to nurture it in parishes far from home
It’s about how Irish emigrants set up their own GAA club in Stockholm- Colm joined John on the line from Stockholm to discuss emigration and his experience in Sweden.
Clare ISPCA Warden Frankie Coote joined John to discuss an number of animal welfare and safety issues.
Also, the Clare ISPCA are planning a calendar to raise funds for the charity and are inviting people to have their dogs photographed for inclusion this Friday 27th Jan at the Dog Pound in Ennis – contact 087 4120671 for more information
This is sponsored by Copystop Ltd on the Kilrush road in Ennis
Contact Frankie Coote on 087 622 5253.
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