This article is from page 35 of the 2009-11-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 35 JPG
MEMBERS of Ennis Town Council have overwhelmingly rejected a mo- tion calling for Ennis to withdraw from the RAPID scheme.
After a heated debate at last week’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, councillors voted by a margin of sev- en to two against the motion submit- ted by Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind).
Cllr Guilfoyle had called for the Council to withdraw from RAPID — a government initiative that provides funding for projects in 51 urban ar- eas around Ireland — because the De- partment of Gaeltacht, Community and Social Affairs refers to them as “disadvantaged” areas.
Cllr Guilfoyle told the meeting that there was a stigma attached to the term and said it was unfair that areas of Ennis should be referred to as dis- advantaged.
Opposing the motion, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) said RAPID funding had enabled the council to install and carry out numerous works projects including white lighting, all-weather pitches, panic buttons in the homes of elderly people and playgrounds.
“There 1s no such thing as disadvan- taged areas. These are all figments of Mickey’s imagination. I have no intention of denying the people of Ennis of money coming down from Dublin,” said Cllr Brennan.
Town Clerk, Eddie Power said “‘dis- advantaged” was not mentioned in the description of the RAPID pro- gramme. He said the programme had resulted in “huge investment” to benefit communities in Ennis.
Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said he could not support a motion he de- scribed as “unfortunate”, “ill thought out and ill informed”.
‘“T do not want to be associated with
this motion” he said.
Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said resi- dential areas should not be referred to as disadvantaged. However he added that Ennis should continue in RAPID because it served as “mecha- nism to draw down funding”.
Cllr Guilfoyle’s motion was backed by Mayor of Ennis Frankie Neylon (Ind) who raised concerns over the structure of RAPID in Ennis.
In response, Cllr Flynn told the meeting that Ennis had been high- lighted as one of the most successful RAPID areas in the country. “As a process it is very transparent and it has been externally audited.”
Town Manager, Ger Dollard told the meeting that RAPID had been very successful in Ennis.
Clir Guilfoyle then challenged councillors to vote, angrily claiming that councillors were voting to keep people “down and living in disadvan-
taged areas’. His comments drew a stern response from Cllr Brennan, who reminded him that the motion to be voted on concerned the proposed withdrawal of Ennis from the RAP- ID programme.
The debate concluded on a stormy note with Cllr Guilfoyle referring to Cllr Meaney as “a clown”. Cllr Meaney requested that Cllr Guil- foyle provide “some background” to his comment. Cllr Guilfoyle claimed Cllr Meaney had been called a clown on local radio.
A vote was taken with seven coun- cillors — Cllr Tommy Brennan, Cllr Peter Considine, Cllr Johnny Flynn, Cllr Mary Coote Ryan, Cllr Mary Howard, Cllr Brian Meaney and Cllr Paul O’Shea — voting against. Two councillors, Cllr Michael Guillfoyle and Cllr Frankie Neylon, voted in favor of Ennis withdrawing from RAPID.