Mayo councillor wants 'bullheaded' Greenway official replaced

A west Mayo councillor has accused a council official of being bullheaded when dealing with landowners along the Greenway and called on the Chief Executive of Mayo County Council to remove him from his role.

The section of the Greenway near Kilmeena was closed for a number of days in August after a landowner placed padlocked gates across two parts of it and blocked off access to part of it going past the front of his home.

As a result pedestrians and cyclists using the Great Western Greenway have had to go onto the N59 road for approximately 150 metres. The Greenway was reopened after an agreement was reached with the landowner and the council to replace the staggered red gates which were in place along that section of the Greenway with normal gates.

The matter was raised at the monthly meeting of Mayo County Council where Independent councillor John O'Malley blamed a council official for failing to engage with landowners. He called on the Chief Executive, Kevin Kelly to move the official to another job where he does not have to engage with the public.

“I came to you manager [chief executive] before about a person who is a member of staff of Mayo County Council who is causing problems in another part of the greenway and it was going to close. We got that resolved but this closed because of the same member of staff. I am not going to name them here but I want you to contact me and I will give you the full details and you will see what I mean. There was work supposed to be carried out on that greenway and what they did was half of it and they did not do the rest of it.

“There was supposed to be work done on that greenway two years ago and every time I ask about it they [officials] say it will be done but it is not being done. What is the point in telling something will be done if it is not.

“That greenway will be closed altogether if this work is not carried out. It is the person I am going to tell you about and it will be up to you manager not me to deal with it and sort it. This is the second time this has happened because of that person. There did not need to be any closure if this person was not so bull headed. He needs to be moved from the position he is in. Move him out of that position and give him a job somewhere else that they won't be dealing with the public,” Cllr O'Malley said.

The Carrowholly-based councillor said that the landowner who closed the Greenway in August said he did so because of cyclists cycling in front of his car when he was coming out of his driveway.

“This gentleman comes out of his driveway and there are bicycles passing backwards and forwards in front of him and he almost hits them and his heart is out in his mouth. He wants gates on both sides so they can get off their bloody bikes and open the gate and they swing close behind them and walk across his driveway and open the gate again,” he said.

Cllr Peter Flynn said it was a miracle and they should be thankful to God that nobody was seriously hurt or worse while having to cycle along the N59 when it was closed. He criticised the council's response saying that there was nobody available to talk to the media or deal with the matter regarding the closure.

However, Mr Kelly defended the council's action and took issue to the comments of Cllr O'Malley saying that if he has an issue to make 'I would advise him to put it down in writing'. He also denied that his staff were not very engaged to resolve the issue and it was 'unfair to suggest that something happened and nobody was there to respond'.

“To come here and suggest that something was happening and we were ignoring it is unfair,” he said.