This article is from page 20 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 20 JPG
NONE of Clare’s Government TDs were in attendance last night for an “emergency” meeting of Clare County Council to discuss the proposed transfer of water services from Clare County Council to the new Water Ireland organisation.
Michael McNamara (LAB) and Fine Gael Deputy’s Joe Carey and Pat Breen each sent letters of apology for not attending the meeting. Only Deputy Timmy Dooley (FF) and Senator Martin Conway (FG) attended the meeting, while Senator Tony Mulcahy was en route to the meeting but was forced to turn back because of an urgent family emergency.
The three Government TDs were heavily criticised by some members of Clare County Council, with some members suggesting that the meeting be suspended to accommodate the attendance of the Government TDs.
“This is not good enough. We have an opposition TD and a member of the second house. I commend them for coming today but what are they going to be able to do wfor us? This is a fruitless exercise to continue with this without the Government TDs. I welcome Deputy Dooley and Senator Martin Conway on being here but, in truth, it is not good enough,” said Ennis Green Party Cllr Brian Meaney (GP).
The local authority went ahead with the meeting, despite the absence of the Government TDs but have decided to reconvene a similar meeting before an upcoming council meeting.
Shannon Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) described the move to establish Water Ireland as privitisation by the back door. “This will do nothing to improve the water quality n this county. This is privitisation by any other word and the public will be thrown to the wolves. The best that Clare County Council can hope for out of this is limited agency work and the current staff will be thrown on the scrap heap. I say shame on Fine Gael and Labour,” he said.
Senator Martin Conway (FG) said that it would be “wrong and foolish” to discard the wealth of knowledge that exists within local authorities but Deputy Timmy Dooley (FF) said that the proposal in its current form would cost almost 4,000 jobs.
“I am concerned about the threat to the jobs of thousands of local authority workers. My understanding is that this will affect something like 3,600 workers across the county and, if this project is brought forward using the framework that is currently in place, then these jobs are at risk,” said Deputy Dooley.