This article is from page 14 of the 2009-05-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
A WAR OF words has broken out between SkyCourt management and members of Shannon Town Council, over the shopping centre’s role in the St Patrick’s Day parade.
At a meeting of the local authority last month, criticism was levelled at SkyCourt, amid accusations that it had not done enough to support the parade. However, the manager of SkyCourt, Pat Kelly, hit back, in a letter to Shannon Town Clerk Tomas Mac Cormaic.
Describing the comments as “gross- ly unfair and disproportionate”, he said SkyCourt had shown huge com- mitment to the parade. He said it was “regrettable that some councillors felt it necessary to criticise SkyCourt management and staff in a severe and hurtful manner” and said that some councillors overreacted with “stinging attacks”. He said additional security staff and cleaners had been employed, while SkyCourt had or- ganised a gymnastics display in the town square.
Mr Kelly said that the parade was ‘arguably the most successful parade to date’, with record numbers — more than 10,000 — in attendance.
“T welcome the one and only con- structive comment from a councillor who suggested that we meet with the parade’s committee well in advance to iron out any difficulties that might arise 1n the future,’ he said.
The chairman of the parade com-
mittee, Cllr Greg Duff (Lab), said he would have preferred if there were no negative comments made after the parade, but in reality, issues did arise. He said the negativity was not just from councillors, as people in the town also expressed “disgust” at the lack of co-operation from SkyCourt. “SkyCourt will have to change their attitude. It’s not just this year or last year, but it’s consistently with who- ever is chairperson,” he said.
Cllr Geraldine Lambert (FF) said she regretted the fact that hurt was caused but said she stood by every- thing she said at the previous meet- ing, adding, “if the cap fits…” She said she had chaired the organising committee for five years, during
which time “we consistently had dif- ficulty getting a level of co-operation from SkyCourt and from Shannon Town Centre Ltd. We had no diffi- culty getting co-operation from the individual traders.”
Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said that she also stood by her earlier comments, saying SkyCourt man- agement should be thankful to the organisers of the parade for attract- ing huge crowds on the day. She said that Mr Kelly should be “bending over backwards and accepting that things were wrong, besides crying, whinging in the letter.”
Clir Sean Hillery (FF), who runs a business in SkyCourt, said the extra cleaners were paid for by the traders.