This article is from page 17 of the 2012-06-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
A FORMER Mayor of Clare has hit out at the re-allocation of services from Ennis Town Council to Clare County Council saying the local authority faces being “wiped out” if nothing is done.
Independent councillor Tommy Brennan said last week that Ennis Town Council should not make its annual payment of the county demand to Clare County Council.
He claimed Clare County Council had crippled Ennis Town Council by taking over some of its functions over recent years.
He said plans are no longer just made for Ennis but rather for Ennis and its environs while the role of town engineer has been changed to area engineer.
He added, “If we don’t do something we are going to be wiped out.” Cllr Brennan was speaking last Tuesday at a special meeting called to debate the future of town councils.
He claimed local authorities were being sacrificed because the Government “can’t get rid of the Seanad”.
Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said the Government had already succeeded in reducing the roles of town councils by taking away refuse collection and water services.
He told the meeting that local councillors “are the most important people in politics because they are in touch with the people who put them in their jobs”.
Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab) said councillors often work 12 hour-days on behalf of their constituents. He described plans to reduce the number of local authorities as criminal.
Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said fewer town councils would result in less representation for people in urban areas.
He said the push towards more regional authorities was comparable to the “spin doctoring” that took place when health boards were abolished to make way for the Health Services Executive (HSE).
Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said the plans to cull local authorities are part of the programme for government agreed between Fine Gael and Labour. He said it appeared that the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, was not keeping his Fine Gael and Labour colleagues abreast of developments, a situation he described as “shocking”.
After Cllr Flynn criticised what he said was the influence of the civil service on government policy, Cllr Meaney said his comments were a “slur” on town council officials.
He said, “My experience of the local government officials and civil service is that they are totally independent and outside of the political system.”
Cllr Flynn said his comments were directed at Dublin based civil servants and not local officials.
Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind), hit out at TDs, Senators and MEPs whom he said were trying to do the work of councillors. The former Fianna Fáil councillor also urged any of his colleagues who are disillusioned with party politics to leave their respective political parties.
Cllr Mary Coote Ryan (FG) said it would “shocking” if the council was abolished.
The meeting at Waterpark House was also attended by the President of the Association of Municipal Authorities Ireland (AMAI) Ted Howlin and AMAI secretary Tomas Ryan.