The Government’s Housing For All – A New Housing Plan for Ireland proposed a new tax to activate vacant land for residential purposes as a part of the pathway to increasing new housing supply.
The Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) was introduced in the Finance Act 2021 and the process to identify land to which the tax applies is now underway and the tax will be payable from 2024.
The objective of the tax is to activate land that is serviced and zoned for residential use or mixed use, including residential use, to increase housing supply and to ensure regeneration of vacant and idle lands in urban locations.
These locations have been identified within existing statutory land use plans at Gorey, Courtown, Bunclody and Rosslare/Kilrane.
Identification and mapping of the land in scope for the tax is undertaken by local authorities through the publication of draft and supplemental maps.
The draft map for County Wexford, is available to view and is available for inspection at the Planning Department in Wexford County Council, Carricklawn, Wexford, at Bunclody Public Library and Gorey Public Library.
Administration of the tax, which is to be undertaken by the Revenue Commissioners from 2024 onwards.
Rosslare Harbour and Kilrane village development team were delighted to receive the good news that they are to get funding of €250,000 under the Town and Village Renewal Scheme.
Pictured outside the bank building in Rosslare Harbour are (left to right); Cllr Jim Moore, Nóirín Cummins, District Manager, Minister James Browne, Annette O’Neill, Director of Services, Cllr Lisa McDonald, Cathaoirleach Rosslare Municipal District, Cllr Frank Staples, Cllr Ger Carthy and Paul Kehoe, T.D.
Cathaoirleach of Rosslare Municipal District, Cllr Lisa McDonald welcomed the news and said; “the investment will transform the old bank building.”
Cllr Ger Carthy said this funding will allow for the development of the old bank building to be used as multi-purpose community facility.
Thanks were expressed to Wexford County Council, Paul Kehoe TD, Minister James Browne and Minister Heather Humphreys.
The Bank of Ireland branch at Rosslare Harbour was closed (along with Taghmon) in 2021 and was later purchased by Wexford County Council for a reported €150,000 following a request from local Council members who saw community potential in the building.
Three Wexford projects will share €984,000 from the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, which is a change from previous years, as the funding has been awarded to larger scale projects requiring significant funding to ensure their completion.
DEPUTY PAUL KEHOE welcomes funding for Wexford projects.
€500,000 goes to Duncannon for the restoration and development of the historic Duncannon Fort.
€234,000 will fund the Enniscorthy Wellbeing and Activity Garden at St. John’s Hospital, a development of the outdoor activity green space for the public of Enniscorthy.
€250,000 will assist the delivery of a Community and Enterprise Resource Centre/Hub in the strategic village of Rosslare Harbour and Europort to address an urgent deficit in multi-use community enterprise facilities in the village and hinterland.
“Each of these projects will deliver massive scope for immediate and future development for the area in terms of tourism, business and enterprise, health and wellbeing and enhancing the community as a whole,” said Deputy Paul Kehoe.
Today’s funding will bring to €6,740925 in Wexford Towns and Villages since the introduction of the programme in 2016. This funding has delivered immeasurable progress and development to towns and villages throughout Wexford, with enormous work put into the projects by the County Council and committed and dedicated Local Development Groups.
Five animal welfare charities in Co. Wexford are to receive funding to the tune of €203,356. The funding was announced as part of the recent Animal Welfare Awareness Day.
The recipients include Wexford SPCA (€92,375); North Wexford SPCA (€46,500: Seal Rescue Ireland, based in Courtown Harbour (€33,906; New Ross SPCA (€24,400) and Chipper’s Sanctuary €6,175).
Nationwide, the Department of Agriculture has allocated €5.8 million to 99 different animal welfare charities which shows an increase of more than €2 million in funding compared to last year.
“Animal welfare is important to all of us and is a priority for me and my government colleagues,” said Minister James Browne, who added; “Those who work for County Wexford’s animal welfare charities are frontline workers and treat it as a vocation.”
Rescuingbelongings outside of the devastated Kearns family home at Clone, Ferns, today.
By Dan Walsh in Ferns
A father and son, John Kearns, (91), and Andrew Kearns, (42), were hospitalised early today following a horrific gas related explosion at Clone, Ferns, which occurred around 7.30am.
Both men were removed to Wexford General Hospital for medical treatment where John is still detained tonight while Andrew was transferred to the Burns Unit at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin, this afternoon. Injuries sustained in both cases are described as “non-life-threatening.”
Devastated family members told WexfordLocal.com that their father lived alone and his son, who lives nearby, made his regular call to care for him and ensure he was OK.
However, an explosion occurred while lighting a gas stove and devastated the building while a fire also broke out. Windows from the house were blown across the road into a ditch and onto an adjoining neighbour’s garden.
Andrew is a family hero as he fought through the devastation to bring his father to safety. “It is a miracle how he got Daddy out,” said one of his sisters.
Emergency services were at the scene throughout the morning, including two units of Enniscorthy Fire Service. Family members and neighbours also spent most of the day trying to recover property, but the single storey house is structurally devastated throughout and is roofless. Every room in the house is destroyed.
With the cold snap expected to continue for the next few days, Irish Water is reminding customers in Co Wexford that there are some simple steps they can take to protect against frozen pipes and bursts – and stay safe, warm, and comfortable this winter.
The sub-zero temperatures in recent days have increased the number of frozen water pipes and bursts. Crews on the ground are working in partnership with local authorities nationwide to maintain essential water and wastewater services. Irish Water are also liaising with the National Emergency Co-ordination Group and other key utilities to ensure an appropriate response to the ongoing weather conditions.
Customers can also do their bit to help avoid expensive repairs and a disrupted water supply at home or in their business/farm by taking a few easy preventative measures.
These include checking outside pipes that can become frozen and burst during periods of cold weather and, if possible, turn off water supply to these areas or to any unoccupied premises. Alternatively, if the water system is left operational, you may consider setting the heating to come on periodically at a lower temperature. This allows warm air to circulate and will help prevent pipes and tanks from freezing in the cold weather.
People are also advised not to leave taps running as this will not necessarily prevent pipes from freezing and can impact on the local water supply.
Ronan Walsh, Operations Lead with Irish Water offered this advice; “With the temperatures dipping below minus-five-degrees in some areas this week it is important to continue the regular maintenance of your property, protect outside taps and farm troughs, and check empty premises. It also a good idea to familiarise yourself with your own internal water system and particularly how to turn off your supply at the stopcock so that you can protect your property in the event of a burst pipe.
“We also recommend that people don’t run taps continually as this is not an effective way of preventing frozen pipes and can cause other problems such as frozen drains. It also puts further pressure on water supplies that are already challenged by the freezing conditions. For example, we recently saw an example of where a single hosepipe left running overnight resulted in 60 people being without water.
“To help people avoid issues like this and stay safe, warm and comfortable during the cold snap you can get lots of helpful advice on the website www.water.ie/winterproofing. There is also advice on general winter readiness at www.winterready.ie
The Irish Water Customer Care Team is also available to help 24/7 on 1800 278 278 and there is lots of advice on being winter ready on Twitter @IrishWater.
DEPUTY MARY LOU McDONALD, Leader of Sinn Féin, speaking at the 100th Liam Mellows Commemoration at Castletown on Sunday.
By Dan Walsh at Castletown
Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, Leader of the Opposition in Dáil Éireann and President of the Sinn Féin Party was guest of honour at the 100th Liam Mellows Commemoration held in Castletown graveyard yesterday afternoon where she delivered the oration.
AUDIO ADDITION; DEPUTY MARY LOU McDONALD addressing the Liam Mellows 100th Commemoration at Castletown, near Gorey, on Sunday.
Deputy McDonald told the large attendance; “The yard in Mountjoy Gaol is sacred ground. A century on, its walls reverberate still with the echo of the shots fired by the Free State soldiers that ended the lives of four Irish patriots; four volunteers who bravely stood by the republic.
In the early hours of December 8th, 1922 – Joe McKelvey, Rory O’Connor, Dick Barrett and Liam Mellows were woken from their cells and told that were to be executed.
There would be no trial, no pleas, no pretence of legality.
The Free State Government openly described its execution order as one of reprisal for the killing of Seán Hales TD the day before.
They were not the first republicans to be executed by the Free State, nor would they be the last.”
Speaking of his local association, Deputy McDonald pointed out; “Though his family had hoped that he would transcend the class barrier that had prevented his grandfather and father from becoming officers in the British military, Mellows chose a different path.
“The seeds of his republicanism were planted when, as a child, he went to live with his mother’s family in Wexford.
“This was the time of the centenary of the 1798 rebellion, and Liam absorbed the stories of the Croppies, Father Murphy, and the heroic stand at Boolavogue.
“In Mountjoy Gael, as the firing squad readied the rifles, in his final hours, Mellows wrote a last letter to his beloved mother. He asked that he be laid to rest ‘in some quiet place’ here in Castletown, stated Deputy McDonald.
And she continued; “And so here we are. And so here we stand. We, the generation that Mellows foretold, stand at his quiet place. Here we stand for Irish Freedom, For equality, For Unity, For the Republic.
Here we stand to write the next chapter in our long struggle for full nationhood.”
Deputy McDonald said that Republicans are leading change right across Ireland. “We are living in the end days of partition, on the pathway to reunification in our time and the achievement of thirty-two county Irish Republic.”
Cllr Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin acted as master of ceremonies and there was great usage of ‘as Gaeilge’ during the speeches.
Enniscorthy Historical Re-enactors Society gave a balanced military history to proceedings held in winter sunshine at zero temperature conditions.
Sinn Féin members from Dublin and other parts of the country attended. The local attendees included Johnny Mythen, T.D., and Cllr Tom Forde from Wexford town, and noted was the presence of Aengus Ó Snodaigh T.D. for Dublin-South Central.
A colour party and marching band led the parade from Castletown crossroads to the cemetery where Liam Mellows is resting. Wreaths were laid, songs were sung including a well-received version of Boolavogue from Ger Sheehan. Grace Sheehan sang too! The dignified event ended with the playing of the National Anthem.
Today’s point-to-point fixture at Borrsi House survived three inspections, the latest at 8am, attracted a large entry, three races were divided to make it an 8-race card and Killanne rider Rob James won four of them equalling his amazing success at Lingstown recently.
JACK HENDRICK rode his 40th career winner at Borris House today.
The maiden race for four-year-old mares was divided; Sanda Rena, ridden by Luke Galligan for Sean Doyle, Ballindaggin, took the first division with two lengths to spare and the judge repeated the winning margin for division two where Miss Oreo triumphed for Rachel O’Neill and John ‘Shark’ Hanlon, Bagenalstown, to give Rob James his first taste of success on an extremely cold afternoon.
Another ‘divide’ in the maiden race for four-year-old geldings and Rob James was aboard both winners for Ballindaggin handler Donnchadh Doyle. Iorangi De L’Isle sailed in by two lengths in division one and Welcom To Carties did it much easier, by sixteen lengths, in division two. James didn’t need to change his silks, both sporting the familiar colours of the Monbeg Syndicate.
James consolidated his four-timer on the Colin Bowe trained Clody Flyer by two and a half lengths in the first division of the maiden race for five- year-old geldings. James has now ridden 10 winners in three racing days and is on the 15-winner mark, five below the champion Barry O’Neill.
Robert Tector who trains at Coolbawn, Rathnure, saddled Killybegs Jet Lady in the mares five-year- old maiden race and the George Murphy owned mare won impressively by 18 lengths with Jack Hendrick, Mayglass, in the saddle. It was Hendrick’s 40th career winner.
The Noeleen and Liam Kenny team from Craanford also got their names on the results sheet when Gray Rock came home five lengths to the good in the six-year-old and upwards race. Another well deserved success for Inch, Gorey, rider Luke Murphy.
“Peace is precious and my fervent hope for the next generation of politicians on this island is that we consign for ever to the dustbin of history polarised politics so that debate will focus on social, economic and climate issues and securing a better, more prosperous and sustainable future for all our children and grandchildren,” former Taoiseach and architect of the Good Friday Agreement, Bertie Ahern, said at today’s Liam Mellows Centenary Commemoration in Castletown.
“As we look to the future and the second century of our independent statehood, we honour all those who fought and died for their vision of a free Ireland that they wished to shape. But we should also hold firm to the conviction that in our mature, democratic society, we have now arrived at a point in our history where no-one needs on this island to fight and die to protect their national identity, their liberties or freedoms.”
BERTIE AHEARN, former Taoiseach, speaking at the Liam Mellows Commemoration in Castletown today.
Mr Ahern recalled; “Ernie O’Malley said affectionately of Mellows that he was “our greatest loss. One thought of him as a clear flame, steadfast, burning of its own strength” while Robert Briscoe described him as “a bright golden flame of conscience and courage.” Perhaps, the biggest tragedy and lesson we should take from our Civil War is that the country lost so many of its “best and brightest” leaders – Mellows, Collins, Cathal Brugha, Arthur Griffith, Erskine Childers, Sean Hales, Liam Lynch and many more – at a time when they were badly needed to build up our new State.”
Mr Ahern thanked Lorcan Allen and the local committee for inviting him to speak in Wexford and was pleased to be here in Wexford to address this commemoration in honour of a revered Irish patriot.
AUDIO ADDITION; BERTIE AHERN speaking at the Liam Mellows Commemoration in Castletown today.
Mr Ahern recalled; “In December 1923, addressing the first Liam Mellows commemoration, a year on from his tragic execution, an extrajudicial killing, which seriously departed from the rule of law, Countess Markiewicz said of Liam Mellows that he was “one of Ireland’s most loyal and honoured commandants, a great soldier, as brave as could be found, and a man worthy of the people’s gratitude.”
Today’s attendance included Minister James Browne, Jim O’Callaghan T.D., Billy Kelleher MEP, Senator Malcolm Byrne, Cllrs Donal Kenny, Pip Breen, Joe Sullivan, Andrew Bolger, Barbara-Anne Murphy, John Fleming, members of Enniscorthy Re-enactment Historical Society, musician Mark Redmond and others.
Former TD Lorcan Allen welcomed everybody and acted as master of ceremonies and the parade was led by a piper, a lament was played, and the event concluded with the National Anthem. Refreshments were provided afterwards in the Golden Anchor, Castletown.
The Leader of the Opposition in Dáil Éireann and President of Sinn Féin, Mary Lou McDonald, T.D., will deliver the keynote address at the Liam Mellows 100th Committee commemorations at his graveside in Castletown Cemetery tomorrow (Sunday).
MARY LOU McDONALD T.D.
Participants will parade from the junction at the Golden Anchor in Castletown to the church grounds commencing at 2pm where Deputy McDonald will address what is termed ‘a national commemoration’. All are welcome to attend.
Afterwards, a reception will be held at Breen’s in Gorey where Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin will launch his new book ‘Liam Mellows and the Unfinished Revolution’ at 4pm. Music afterwards with The Púcas.
Earlier in the week commemorative stones and young oaks were laid and planted at schools in Castletown and Coolgreany to mark the centenary of the execution of Liam Mellows.
WexfordLocal.com 