This article is from page 16 of the 2008-01-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
, Cllr Meaney said that he had been in contact with his solicitor re- garding comments which appeared on the front page of a local newspa- per last week.
Meaney described the comments as being “wild rhetoric” and “tanta- mount to intimidation.”
Senator Dooley had last week threatened legal action against any members of Clare County Coun- cil who supported the ban on TD’s meeting planners in non-public areas of the planning office.
‘There is nothing cut and dry about this yet, the TD’s are certainly mov- ing among their own groups. There is talk of legal action,’ said Cllr Meaney.
“I have had to go and get my own legal advice in relation to comment I read on the front of a local publica- tion last week. My legal advice are watching the situation and have de- scribed the comments as idle threats and tantamount to intimidation.
“It was wild rhetoric and it was ill
thought-out. The notion of suing a councillor who chooses to support a motion is a limit to our free speech.”
Cllr Meaney was speaking after an in camera meeting of Clare County Council last night.
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Journalists and spectators were re- fused access to the meeting, but, ac- cording to Cllr Meaney, the situation regarding access I’D’s gaining access
to non-public areas was clear. “There was an awful lot of resist- ance to introducing a procedure that would interfere with the County Councillors right to engage with the planning system. Certainly, it was made clear at the meeting that the TD’s have no rights in terms of ac-
cess to the planners,” continued Cllr Meaney.
“They have rights to make repre- sentations, they have rights in terms of making planning legislation’s, but they have no rights in terms of ac- cessing the non public areas.
“We don’t have to reinvent the Wheel on this issue. The four plan- ning authorities in the Dublin area do not allow any access by TD’s to the non-public areas of the planning office. It has to be done in a transpar- OLA Nl
According to Cllr Meaney, the situ- ation regarding County Councillor access to the non public areas of the planning section has been deferred to next Mondays meeting of Clare County Council.
Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Martin Conway described the pro- ceedings as “constructive”.
“I’m not in a position to discuss anything that was discussed at the in camera meeting, except that I felt that it was a very productive meet- ing,” he said.
“We had a very detailed and frank discussion and I would be confident that we will have a very satisfactory resolution to the issued that council- lors were faced with.”