A Clare County Council analysis of its own spending on capital projects shows that West Clare and the Shannon area are lagging behind the rest of the county in terms of levels of investment.
The Ennis area has seen the greatest amount of capital spending, although the figures are inflated somewhat by a small number of large-scale projects.
The Council’s capital spending is an important generator of economic activity here.
Between the start of 2017, and June of this year, it invested a total of 151 million euro in a wide range of projects across the county.
€82.6 million of this has been spent on housing, and when this is stripped out – along with smaller projects worth less than €50,000 – €56 million worth of projects remain.
Of this, €19.1 million was spent in Ennis, including €7.4 million on flood relief schemes.
€14.4 million was spent in North Clare, with this figure including over €4 million on storm damage repairs.
€12m was spent in East Clare, though €9.8 million of this has gone on the Shannon Bridge Crossing project.
€6.55m has been spent on capital works in West Clare, with €4m being spent in the Shannon Electoral Area.
The Council is currently in the process of drawing up a three-year capital spending plan, which means there could be a key focus on this regional breakdown when the plan is presented to local representatives later this month.
