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Clare

Twenty-three housing developments in Clare are to be exempt from the household charge, according to a list published on the Department of the Environment’s webpage.

At Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council, members of the local authority sought clarification regarding what estates are to be exempt.

At the time, director of services, Nora Kaye, said she wasn’t aware of which estates would be exempt but expected more information to become available.

Councilor Pascal Fitzgerald had put forward a motion asking for details of what estates are to be exempt and said a number of people had come to him asking why they should pay the charge, given that when they had wanted things done in their estates the council had claimed it wasn’t responsible.
With regard to his own motion, Councilor Fitzgerald said that obligation to pay the household charge should be linked to estates being taken in charge.

“If people have to pay, will the ­council take the estates in charge? We just need proper answers,” he commented.

Councilor Gerry Flynn said it was “absolute lunacy” that the list of exempt estates wasn’t available, given that the charge had already been in place for a number of days.
(Source: The Clare Champion)

Cork

Rebel cook Rachel Allen received threatening letters towards her family in the aftermath of the furore that erupted over a photo she posted on Facebook before Christmas.

The picture featured the Ballymaloe chef posing with a shotgun and three dead pheasants on the bonnet of her 4x4, after a “day’s shooting in North Cork” and has attracted over 1,300 comments on her Facebook page.

She revealed on RTÉ's Saturday Night Show that she was sent letters in the aftermath: "I got quite threatening things towards me and my family, strange things". She added that she took the animals home and cooked them.

She drew the ire of animal rights activists who criticized her for killing the game birds. Other posters, including some vegetarians, supported her actions. Ms Allen gave her only interview on ‘The Saturday Night Show’ on RTÉ last weekend saying, “I never meant to offend anyone. I’m not a controversial character”.

“It probably did rub people up the wrong way. It was probably a bit blatant and crude standing there,” she said about the image of her dressed in the hunting gear.

As for the pheasants, they went into the pot. “I brought them home and I cooked them. I made game terrine and pheasant casserole for my family.”

She added that it had sparked a huge debate. "For the most part it has been a very healthy articulate debate for the most part.

"There are people who don't eat meat, and who don't wear leather, who probably don't have duck or goose feathers in their pillows. People that can't bear to see an animal being killed, for any reason, for food, or whatever, and I really didn't mean to offend them," she said.
Source: (Cork Independent)

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