This article is from page 21 of the 2012-02-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
THE Mayor of Clare yesterday hit out at critical comments made by a senior councillor towards the County Manager.
Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) told Cllr James Breen (Ind) that he was “disappointed with your comments on a personal level” after the former Dáil TD had expressed criticism of Tom Coughlan’s work as County Manager.
Mr Coughlan was moved to defend himself against comments made by Cllr Breen at yesterday’s meeting of Clare County Council.
Mr Coughlan said, “I am doing my job and I am doing it the best I can.”
The comments were sparked by a motion tabled by Cllr Breen seeking a written report from the council containing information on how many contractors were employed by the council in 2011 to do work that was heretofore done by council staff; the entire cost of the contracts; the name, amount and type of works undertaken.
Cllr Breen also asked if this would be a normal feature of council operations in 2012.
Pointing to what he said was a lack of information in the council’s response, Cllr Breen called on the manager to provide a “factual and straight” answer to his queries.
Mr Coughlan said Cllr Breen had requested a great deal of complex information that could not be collected simply by “pressing a button”. He said staff had been removed from “productive” duties to address Cllr Breen’s motion.
Mr Coughlan said that while Cllr Breen is entitled to the information, he had to make the best decision on how to allocate scarce resources.
Mr Coughlan said, “I can’t give it (information) at the moment because I don’t have the staff to deal with Cllr Breen’s enquiries.”
Cllr Breen said he failed to understand how a group of people would be required to collect financial data. “The information should be available to one man at his fingertips,” he said.
Mr Coughlan said 167 people at the council were authorised to deal with contracts and it would be impractical to have one person do the job.
In response to a comment about his work as County Manager, Mr Coughlan said, “I think the way you are treating me at the moment is really unfair.” Cllr Breen said he was entitled to his opinion.
In her reply, Nora Kaye, Acting Director of Service, gave details of surface dressing contracts engaged in by the council’s transportation department.
She explained that in 2011, the council engaged in two separate surface dressing contractors in the Shannon Electoral Area and Killaloe Electoral Area.
Ms Kaye continued, “The total cost of outsourcing this particular body of work was € 78,000 in 2011. In relation to the hiring of contractors for 2012, no decision has yet been taken with regard to same – however, it is likely that due to depleting staff resources, some works will require to be outsourced during 2012.”
Ms Kaye said contractors had been hired to carry out maintenance works in the Environment and Water Services Directorate.
Ms Kaye told the meeting that there was no intention whatsoever to withhold information from elected members.