This article is from page 13 of the 2007-11-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
A TV ad that shows a road worker patting filling into a pothole with a shovel instead of re-surfacing a road has caused a major furrore in Clare County Council.
The ad is part of a series drawn up for the Irish Pride bread company un- der the slogan “Pride? You won’t find it in him, but you will in our bread”.
But the ad belittles local author- ity workers, members of the County Council claimed at the adjourned
session of their monthly meeting.
Cllr Joe Arkins called on the coun- ty manager to make a formal com- plaint about the ad to the Advertising Standards Authority.
“It’s derisory and stereotypical. We should be defending and protecting our workers at the lower end of the pay scale who do an excellent job,” he said.
Seconding Cllr Arkins’ call for a complaint to the authority, CUir Colm Curtin said the ad “is misrepresenta- tion which is totally out of date. If
anyone wants to see the quality of workmanship and dedication of our staff, they should come back to west Clare and see the job our own staff have done on the reconstruction of the bridge near Cree. It’s a testament to them.”
Cllr Michael Conway (FG) said that in addition to writing to the author- ity, the county manager should write to the Minister for the Environment, asking him to come up with funding for a counter-campaign that would show the work done by council road
staff in a positive light.
Cllr Sonny Scanlon said that it is “sad and very unfortunate for these workers, many of whom have fami- lies and already contending with the fact that they are let go before Christ- mas and for two and three months at a time. They should be on our full- time payroll.”
Other council members agreed that the ads were offensive and derisory of council workers. It was pointed out that it was all the more inappropriate as a council worker had this year lost
his life while carrying out his work.
The county manager said that he would certainly do as the members had asked. “I have on many occa- sions complimented the work being done by council workers. I have spo- ken to them and they do feel let down by negative comments. But their work is outstanding and it’s not just the ordinary day to day jobs. When it comes to things like trees blowing down in the middle of the night, they are there. We have a magnificent workforce.”