Exception taken to OPW response not to attend Mayo council meeting
THE failure of the Office of Public Works (OPW) to meet with councillors in south and east Mayo is to be raised with the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and minister with responsibility for the semi-state body.
Councillor Damien Ryan had asked a representative to attend a Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District meeting to give elected members an update on the OPW's programme in the region.
However, the response to the invitation wasn't what he hoped for and he took 'great exception' to it.
Elected members, at their monthly meeting, was told correspondence had been received from the OPW saying they were not in a position to attend the September meeting, and there was no mention of any future meetings.
Councillor Ryan said he wasn't going to put up with that. There's a number of things key to their work, and public waterways is part of that.
The OPW is a public body, paid for by the public purse, and they were not beyond democratic approach, he stated.
He proposed they write to Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to direct them to attend.
The main reason he wanted them in for September was because you can walk on the rivers in Cong at the moment with water levels so low, but that won't be the case in six weeks' time. There's huge maintenance to be done there but it hasn't been visited yet, and he wanted that conveyed to them, he said.
The OPW are entitled to meet with the public representatives and the response was 'an insult' to them as a forum. And perhaps, he suggested, the OPW needs to be subsumed into the local authorities.
Highlighting the seven linking turlough in south Mayo, which has a impact before meeting Corrib or Mask, Councillor Patsy O'Brien couldn't see any logical reason why they would not come to a meeting.
There seems to be a growing tendency with semi-state companies and government departments, that they don't want to meet public reps, commented Councillor Michael Burke. You can send them an email, and extend that to eircom and ESB, and it's getting more difficult to communicate the problems of your constituent to those particular bodies, he said.
There has to be better connections between the different state agencies, he suggested.
District cathaoirleach Councillor Neil Cruise said there was a touch of arrogance in the response. They had invited different people into the room and he had never seen anyone shot.
It was a reasonable thing to ask them to come in to meet with them. Something could be sorted in five minutes in the room instead of six months via email.
It was a fair request, he commented.
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