This article is from page 16 of the 2008-05-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
IN an effort to catch up on the air- miles clocked up by their colleagues in Clare County Council, members of Ennis Town Council are packing their bags to travel to Hungary at the weekend.
Leading the charge is Town Mayor Tommy Brennan (Ind) and he ex- plained yesterday that the trip is at the invitation of the Mayor of Erzsé- betvaros, which 1s a district in Buda- pest.
According to Cllr Brennan, the trip
is part of a twinning initiative by Erzsébetvaros.
The district of Budapest is no stranger to twinning with other towns and is already twinned with Sveti Vlas, Bulgaria; Po’ega, Croatia; Nevers, France; Stavroupoli, Thessa- loniki, Greece; Siedlce, Poland.
According to Cllr Brennan, Erzsé- betvaros is paying the accommo- dation bill for the Town Council group over the bank holiday week- end, while Ennis Town Clerk, Eddie Power confirmed yesterday that the trip is costing the Council €7,000
and funds have been provided in the 2008 budget to cover the costs.
Those travelling to Hungary include four other councillors, Cllr Mary Coote-Ryan (FG), Cllr Taiwo Mat- thew (Ind), Cllr Tom Glynn (FF) and Cllr Donal O’Beara (Green) along with Town Manager, Tom Coughlan; Town Clerk, Eddie Power and Senior Staff Officer, Liam O’Connor.
One councillor who will not be trav- elling is Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) who said yesterday: “Unless it 1s demon- strated to me that there is a benefit for the local community, I won’t go.”
He said that at the moment, re- sources are scarce with 900 people on the housing list.
“T have no problem with officials going to learn from others or the mayor representing the town, but I am focused on local priorities and I believe that the solutions to our own problems can be solved from within our own area.”
According to Eddie Power, the in1- tial contact came through the Hun- garian Embassy in Dublin and the visit will allow an opportunity for both Districts to exchange informa-
tion and to learn from each other’s experience and culture.
Noted for his singing ability, Cllr Brennan said if called upon, he will sing a song for his hosts.
“We are honoured and privileged that the District of Erzsébetvaros in Budapest has identified Ennis as a possible twinning partner. We are indeed pleased to accept the Mayor’s kind invitation to visit his district and look forward to exploring the twinning potential and the possibil- ity of developing links between our respective areas’, he said.