Search Results for 'Department of the Environment'

Rate refunds on vacant buildings are costing the Galway City Council an estimated €2 million a year and are proving a hindrance to both the establishment of new businesses and rent reductions.

So Galway is to get 12 new councillors - a new dirty dozen - when the proposals in the Department of the Environment’s new plan, Putting People First, billed as the most significant local authority reform in Ireland since the Victorian era, are passed.

Despite having a collection rate for the Household Charge in excess of what the Department of Environment have said is needed in order to avoid any cuts in the 2012 Local Government fund, Mayo County Council is still going to be down €641,589 on its allocated funding this year.

A tree survey, community gardens, a bug hotel, and a wildlife walk are among the environmental projects in Westmeath to benefit from funding announced this week.

Mayo County Council won’t have to worry about dealing with a €2.57 million hole in their budget if the collection rate for the household charge reaches between 75 and 80 per cent. County manager Peter Hynes told a special meeting of the council this Monday that, going by all indications following discussions with the Department of the Environment and the Minister, the potentially ‘catastrophic’ cuts would be avoided if those collection rates were met.

The Fianna Fáil members on Mayo County Council have sent a letter to the Cathaoirleach requesting a special meeting be convened to discuss the implications of funding withdrawals from the authority.

Heritage Week continues all over Westmeath this weekend (August 24-26), with the highlight being the Tyrrellspass Festival, winner of the best event award last year.

Anyone reading architect Roddy Mannion’s new book, Galway - A Sense of Place (Liffey Press), is in for a treat. They will be amazed at the breadth of social history covered in it. While the book also acknowledges the physical/geographic place Galway City assumes in terms of Ireland’s history of urban/city development.

The Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes group has blasted the Government and local authorities in Galway for what it describes as attempt to “guilt” people into paying the controversial household charge.

A call for the location of an additional NCT vehicle test centre in Castlebar has been made by Fianna Fail councillor, Blackie Gavin. He said that it made no sense that the county town of Mayo, the location of all major public services, should not have a dedicated NCT test centre.