THE chief executive of Cork County Council has rebuffed threats to veto this year’s budget.
Members of West Cork Municipal District refused to ratify a draft budget for their area at a meeting on November 6th.
But, at a full meeting of Cork County Council on November 13th, Cllr Joe Carroll (FF) warned that unless each municipal district gets more ‘outdoor staff,’ public representatives would be slow to support the county budget.
The acting ceo of Cork County Council, Valerie O’Sullivan, paraphrased Cllr Carroll’s claim that ‘the budget won’t be passed until there are enough men on the ground’.
‘How he expects the Council to increase the number of men on the ground before the end of November is beyond me,’ she responded.
Ms O’Sullivan also told the councillors that this year’s budget is ‘the most viable, balanced budget in years’.
As for the actual number of so-called outdoor staff, Valerie O’Sullivan said the full complement is 374. But the actual number of posts is 354 because there are, at present, 20 vacancies. Taking into consideration the fact that there are nine employees on long-term sick leave, Ms O’Sullivan said there are 345 people working for the Council.
She did, however, say that there is one, possibly two, approaching retirement age.
The ceo remonstrated with Cllr Carroll, and every West Cork councillor who complains about lack of manpower, saying: ‘The vast majority (of the 345) are located in the western division, and the numbers will show that.’
She said the local authority is dealing with issues in relation to the transition of local authority staff to Uisce Éireann. ‘There will be some staff opting to stay with us in Cork County Council and that will increase the number of people on the ground,’ she explained.
After listening to lots of councillors speak in support of Cllr Tony O’Shea’s motion – which called on the Council to place a full-time drainage crew in each engineering area across the county to assist with keeping drains and gullies clear on our roads and streets – the ceo presented the councillors with ‘a few facts to consider’.
‘The work is being done,’ she said. ‘But we are up against it because of the backdrop of severe weather and the lack of funding for road works. When communities come forward with suggestions we have never been found wanting in supporting them,’ she added. ‘And crews to deal with drainage are not needed all year around because they are already clearing gullies and jetting drains.’
Cllr Joe Carroll was unrepentant in his assertion that towns like Skibbereen have become desperately short-staffed. As a former member of Skibbereen Urban District Council – which was abolished to make way for the West Cork Municipal District – he recalled a time when it had a town foreman and a crew of five maintaining the town. Today, he said there is one man who is also being called upon to carry out duties in other towns, such as Baltimore and Rosscarbery.
‘I am not happy with what is going on,’ Cllr Carroll told The Southern Star, and he added a warning of his own that the upcoming draft budget meeting would be ‘tough stuff’.
Cllr Kevin Murphy (FG) said the numbers in the Bandon Kinsale Municipal District are also way down. ‘I would be interested in seeing the numbers for all of West Cork,’ he stated at the full Council meeting.
Cllr Paul Hayes (Ind) asked to see the ratio of workers to the number of roads, and how West Cork compares with the rest of the country. ‘West Cork is a bigger area,’ he said. ‘And community groups, such as tidy towns committees, are picking up the slack.’
Cllr Danny Collins (Ind) said the lack of outdoor staff is a very real and serious issue. He referred to a recent Facebook post in which three men took it upon themselves to clear a drain in Ballydehob in a bid to prevent flooding.
The councillor also noted that Schull does not, at this time, have an engineer and asked when one would be appointed.
Cllr Kevin Murphy called for clarity in relation to who is responsible for cleaning rivers. He specifically asked for the regulations – governing what comes under Council control and what is the responsibility of landowners – to be sent to each of the public representatives in writing.
Cllr Paul Hayes said the lack of funds for road repairs, and the fact that surface water flooding rips up repairs, has turned West Cork’s road network into something of a joke. He said every announcement about plans to create Greenways elicits comments on Facebook from people who say to sort out the roadways first and forget about the greenways until then.
As someone who broke an alloy and a front shock on the road from Courtmacsherry, after the most recent flooding, Cllr Hayes claimed money spent on minor roads repairs is a false economy.
