Ordinary Meeting
6th November 2006, Council Chamber
An Cathaoirleach Councillor Jimmy Cudden presided.
Members Present
Councillors Charles Bobbett, Joseph Bonner, Patrick Boshell, Oliver Brooks, Phillip Cantwell, Willie Carey, Shane Cassells, Eugene Cassidy, Jenny D’Arcy, Anne Dillon Gallagher, John V Farrelly, Brian Fitzgerald, Jimmy Fegan, Michael Gallagher, Dominic Hannigan, Peter Higgins, Jim Holloway, Tom Kelly, Nicholas Killian, Noel Leonard, James Mangan, Liz McCormack, Seamus Murray, Patsy O’ Neill, Bryan Reilly, Joe Reilly, Tommy Reilly.
Officials in Attendance
County Manager: Tom Dowling
Directors of Services: Kevin Stewart, Brendan McGrath, Eugene Cummins, Tadhg Mc Donnell, Ciaran Mangan (A),
Head of Finance/IT: Fiona Lawless
Senior Planner: Wendy Moffett (A)
Senior Executive Officers: Larry Whelan, Martin Rogers, Michael Griffin.
Meetings Administrator: Mary Maguire (A)
Apologies: Councillor Michael Lynch
1.0 Confirmation of Minutes
1.1 Confirmation of Minutes of Monthly Meeting held on 2nd October 2006
The minutes of the Full Council Meeting held on 2nd October 2006, were confirmed on the proposition of Councillor Patsy O’ Neill, seconded by Councillor Noel Leonard.
2.0 Expressions of Sympathy and Congratulations
The following expressions of sympathy were passed with:
2.1 Rosaleen Ryan, Motor Tax on the death of her father Edward Ryan, RIP
2.2 Frank (Sam) Kenny, Infrastructure on the death of his father Jim Kenny, RIP
2.3 Cllr Liz Mc Cormack on the death of her son Robbie Mc Cormack, RIP
2.4 Raphelle Ennis, Trim Area Office on the death of her father Dick Mc Gurl, RIP former Clerks of Works, Housing Section
The following expressions of Congratulations were passed with:
2.5 Congratulations to Rathmolyon on victory in the recent Meath Senior Hurling Championship
2.6 Congratulations to Wolfe Tones Football Club on victory in the recent Meath Senior Football Championship
2.7 Congratulations to Rathkenny Football Club on victory in the recent Intermediated Football Championship
2.8 Congratulations to Minister Noel Dempsey on introducing the drift net salmon fishing ban.
2.9 The members welcomed An Cathaoirleach Cllr Cudden back to the Council Chamber following his recent illness
At this point An Cathaoirleach indicated that three members had earlier requested a Suspension of Standing Order to raise three issues. The members unanimously agreed to a suspension of Standing Order for 15 minutes and the following items were raised:
Cllr Carey: sought a statement form the executive in relation to the Draft Register of Electors
In response Senior Executive Officer (A) Mary Maguire updated the members as follows:
Background – National Working Group and procedural guidelines
Pre Draft – Contact : Registration Officers employed and correspondence with all electors on live register
Focus: As per Working group recommendations where time was critical, ensure that deletions were completed first.
Deletions: 23,500 : 17500 based on workbooks and forms and 5500 letters following letters issued after failure to respond to two visits from Registration Officers.
Additions : 10.000 approx still to be added (Forms)
Current - Draft published 1/11/2006 and claims acceptable to 25/11/2006
Registration Clinics: Scheduled at council’s own initiative for Saturday 11th November at all Civic Offices.
A short debate ensued and the following were the main points raised by the members and answered
· Suggestion that a different approach was taken in the intensive update in rural areas.
In response it was reiterated that due to unforeseen circumstances it was impossible to cover the county in full with Registration Officers. It was also confirmed that this was also the case in a number of other registration authorities including with whom the Franchise Section is in communication on a regular basis. The council had continued, albeit unsuccessful, to get Registration Officers to all these areas up to the last week of the campaign after which correspondence issued directly to each elector on the live register in these areas.
· Quality of forms accompanying letters issued to electors who were not visited by Registration Officers).
It was acknowledged that the quality of the forms accompanying some of the letters was poor and this was regretted.
· Timeframe afforded to respond to letters insufficient.
Allegations that post was issued from Co Hall on 23/10/06, the same day the reply was due, was refuted. However it was acknowledged that the timeframe specified for response was limited as already identified due to difficulty in trying to source additional registration officers.
· Time of house visitations.
It was confirmed that many Registration Officers engaged in this work outside of normal office hours to facilitate and capture the working population.
· Position on Status Quo if no Registration Officer called.
It was emphasised and reiterated that all electors are responsible for ensuring that they are registered and should check their registration details on the Draft Register. Electors were advised to take heed of local and national awareness campaigns to this effect.
· Polling Scheme and consequential amendments to polling stations. Awareness campaign will be required to draw attention to polling stations in cases were station has been revised as a result of the new Polling Scheme when Polling Cards issue for the next election.
· Need to publicise Registration Clinics scheduled by the Franchise Section for all Civic Offices on Saturday 11th November.
It was agreed to maximise local and also to engage with the national media (RTE)
Cllr Cantwell sought the members support on the Tara Mines Disabled Workers Pension Issue.
The members supported Cllr. Cantwell with his issue
Cllr Cassells sought a response from the County manager Tom Dowling on the road works and road closures in Navan Town
Cllr Cassells raised a number of queries and sought rescheduling of existing work to be undertaken at night time thereby allowing road access from 7 am to 7pm
In response County Manager Tom Dowling stated that is difficult to give a considered response to the issues presented. He stated that he did not believe that the works will have a negative impact longterm. Mr Dowling confirmed that management of road works is with technical staff and resident engineers. He indicated that a considered response would issue to the Navan area meeting the following night.
3.0 Correspondence
The following items of correspondence as circulated were noted
3.1 Correspondence received from Government Departments in relation to funding for flashing lights at schools.
Members discussed the responses, some suggesting that the responses were “kicking to touch” and passing the buck, while other suggested that letters should never have issued to central government and that it was the responsibility of each area to provide for the lights.
Some members had thought that the Road Safety Authority might intervene but it was recently determined that this is not a funding agency and that the council should provide school wardens.
It was further suggested that it is time to undertake an audit of schools to establish the nature of safety measures required.
3.2 To initiate review of the Amenity Levies/Community Grants Scheme.
Members queried if this review will be referred to the SPC and indicated that they would like to see the review cover more than a review of the application form: members wished the review to assist groups in securing funding rather than make it harder for them to apply.
3.3 Affordable Housing Partnership.
The members were advised that due to last minute unavoidable issues this presentation will now be delivered by the Affordable Housing Partnership at the December meeting.
3.4 Navan Town Boundary Alteration
Members suggested that the extension of time sought by Meath County Council to consider the Navan Town Council boundary alteration was unacceptable. In response the County Manager outlined the history of document submitted and stated that the extension is vital for growth of towns and he fully supported it. However he confirmed that the 2006 AFS must be finalised to ensure finances and figures are correct before making an official response.
3.5 Taggart Homes
Members queried if the council could be satisfied that it had got the best possible result out of An Bord Pleanála’s problem and wondered what if anything can be done to be absolutely sure that a similar situation would not present in the future.
Members disputed the net loss to the council: some suggested up to 75 houses were lost, while other suggested that it was a loss of sites.
The County Manager responded as follows:
· The fault was not that of Meath County Council
· The loss is relative to sites rather than houses
· The council will now acquire 10 houses plus €1 million, which will equate to over 50 Affordable houses
· Legal costs will be borne by An Bord Pleanala
· The council has now the value of up to €4 million more than it had 2 months ago immediately prior to the agreement being reached with Taggart Homes.
3.6 Additional Heritage Project Funding
Responding to a query the County Manager confirmed that the following projects will benefit from the additional funding:
· Boyne Canal Restoration €60,000
· Archival cases €8,000
· Conservation of Trim Corporation Papers €3,000
3.7 Update on Active Citizenship Consultation
3.8 Correspondence received from Failte Ireland regarding promotional material.
This correspondence was noted but some members expressed disappointment at the omission of an apology.
3.9 Circular Letter LG 26-06 regarding possible composition of new unified local development structures.
3.10 Farrell Grant Sparks Financial Report
An Cathaoirleach Councillor Jimmy Cudden informed members that the Corporate Policy Group had received a presentation on the report from Head of Finance Fiona Lawless and that the CPG had recommended to seek a deputation to the Minister.
Head of Finance Fiona Lawless delivered the presentation to full council and the following issues were raised in the debate that ensued:
· Initially proposed to meet with the Minister over 12 months ago but this hadn’t happened. It was hoped that now that the problem has been clearly identified that the council can make a decent submission to the DoEHLG for fair funding.
· Reality is that the report should have been made available 36 months earlier. Council only now admitting / identifying the extend of its problems and report should have been submitted to central government at least in advance of the government’s preparation of the 2007 Book of Estimates
· Review of County Development Plan will add more problems for the council’s finances
· Staff Ratios were considered unacceptable. Expressions of congratulation were extended to the council’s staff who are working very hard to try to deliver services to a rapidly growing population for the past number of years.
· Budgets should be multi-annual rather than annual.
· Suggestion that the Council cannot deal with the issues independently and require immediate central government assistance.
· Members warned of no support for a draft budget that might initiate cuts to deal with deficit at the expense of service delivery, particularly to the most vulnerable.
· Problem is not new.
· Report insufficient as it does not carry recommendations to alleviate the problem.
· Report merely reaffirming what was already known; that the council was not fair share of allocations from central government and trying unsuccessfully to compete with the BMW region
· Manager and management have done their best to accommodate the pressures of Local Authority members to keep things going for past 10 years
· Cost of challenge to the last County Development Plan now very evident.
Responding to the debate the County Manager confirmed that
· The council is not broke, but that there is a strain on resources to provide services which it wants to deliver.
· Reason for delay in preparing individual report for Meath due to the regional dimension in context of previous census figures, as well as a need to ensure information was totally accurate.
· Need to demonstrate that the council was proactive in trying to address own deficit and will “break even” in 2006.
· Engaged a very professional company to prepare the report as it was difficult to pinpoint the exact nature of the problem until all the figures including latest census were available
· Time is right to submit report
· Acknowledgement of the significant central government allocations to date and the difficulty in pre-empting the exact impact of the county’s population growth. Need for significant boost to our base line.
· Meath County Council is the first Local Authority with report prepared on current statistics.
· Department officials have requested rigorous action to deal with deficit and proposals will be presenting in draft budget.
4.0 Report from Protocol Committee
Protocol for erection of monuments
Mary Maguire advised the meeting of the proceeding at the Protocol meeting as follows:
Protocol for erection of monuments
Communication received from the Slane Area Committee following request by Duleek 1916-1981 Monument Committee to erect a commemorative monument.
M. Maguire confirmed contacted with Protocol and General Division of the Department of the Taoiseach who indicated that it does not have such remit on deciding on local protocol issues. The Protocol Committee requested further formal communication with the Taoiseach’s office, as well as seeking advice from the National Monuments Commissions.
4.0 Twinning Initiatives
Mary Maguire advised of initiatives currently being considered on arts and library services.
5.0 Conferences Abroad
The Protocol Committee recommended the following attendances at three upcoming events for March 2007 as follows:
New York
2 Fianna Fail
2 Fine Gael
1 Non Party/ Labour
1 Non Party / Green Party/Sinn Fein
Plus An Cathaoirleach
London
2 Fianna Fail
2 Fine Gael
1 Non Party
Flanders
Full details not yet available but attendance to be as follows:
2 Fianna Fail
2 Fine Gael
1 Non Party
It was the recommendation of the Protocol Committee that if one party’s attendance reduces that vacancy will not be filled by any other group.
Peter McDermott
It was the recommendation of the Protocol Committee that Meath County Council would work with a subcommittee of the GAA to honour Peter McDermott