Seánad plea last roll of the dice for Westport Town Council?

SeΡnad plea last roll of the dice for Westport Town Council?


Neill O’Neill

WESTPORT Town Council has written to members of SeΡnad Eireann, asking them to consider its case for the retention of town councils. The plea follows correspondence with Environment Minister Phil Hogan on the matter and a recent deputation to the Council of Europe.
The legislation on local government reform was due to be discussed in the SeΡnad yesterday (Monday). Westport Town Council last week undertook to write to every member of the Upper House – where the Government does not have a majority – to seek to delay the proposals and have them reconsidered.
Cllr Myles Staunton, who has been leading the charge on the matter, explained the plan to his colleagues last week.
“We wrote to Minister Hogan and he replied. We said Congress asked for the principal of subsidiarity to be protected. He replied this was said in relation to old legislation, but we feel the Council of Europe was referring to this current bill.
“Our idea now is to set out our position, write to every member of the SeΡnad and copy all of our correspondence between us and Minister Hogan and also the Council of Europe document.
“The minister has ignored our alternatives, but the SeΡnad [members] will get to make their own minds up,” he stated.
The councillors also discussed withdrawing their subscription to their representative body, the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland (AMAI), which the majority feels has not best represented the council.
Cllr Myles Staunton stated that the AMAI has treated Westport Town Council in ‘an unreasonable and disrespectful way’ when it sought the report of the findings of a senior counsel who the AMAI had tasked with looking into the legality of the legislation. The AMAI had refused to furnish Westport Town Council with the report, saying the council’s subscription to the organisation was nine days late – something refuted by the town management.