Mayor Castigates Chamber continued from page 1
Highlights of term
Since the time of my election, there have been highlights - also things I hoped we would achieve during my term in office.
1. It was great to see, last year, the sight of the fantastic new waterbus, Dun na nGall, coming up the bay, to become one of the strongest assets that this town possesses. I would like to congratulate all involved in bringing this project to fruition and the professional manner in which the operation is run, and I wish the Enterprise Group well in all future projects.
2. With regards to the Library, I have kept in touch with the County Librarian over the course of my term, pushing for the delivery of this amenity . The current status of this project is that it is at an advanced stage of site selection.
3. With regard to the development of Donegal Town, and related issues, I would like to say that I sincerely felt that I could have done more to make all developers feel welcome to our town. I also believe that the Community Chamber could have done better. As public representatives, our only job was to welcome all development to our region, and not to be seen as partisan in any way - by this I mean choosing sides.
I, like everyone else in Donegal, was relieved and delighted that finally we have been given the green light for one of these developments to go ahead, and I wish the Keeney Construction consortium and Magee company every success with their venture.
Also, I sincerely hope that, in coming days, another local development company, run by the Kelly family, will also get the green light for their planned development on Millers Hill - and I sincerely wish them well.
I would also like to wish Bennett Construction every success for whatever plans they have for the mart site.
I feel that we are coming to the end of the Celtic Tiger period and Donegal Town needs all the development it can get. Locally, as we all know to our cost, we have just come through a period where we have had substantial job losses with Hospira and the Magee Plants.
Peter Kennedy
On a more personal basis, I would like to talk about a good friend of Donegal Town who passed away during my period in office, a pillar of the community, the late Cllr Peter Kennedy.
Peter served our community as a county councillor for 20 years. In this time he had the honour to serve as Chairman of Donegal Co Council, Chairman Of Donegal VEC and also Chairman of the Border Regions. Peter Kennedy was renowned for his love of this community.
Peter was instrumental in bringing and supporting many projects to Donegal Town. To name but a few, the Public Services Building at Drumlonagher and the new state-of-the-art fire station of which he was very proud. Peter had a great vision for the future of Donegal Town. Often, at the tip of his tongue, he would mention the need for a multiple in the centre of Donegal Town, leisure facilities for the young people, the need to support the waterbus - and development at the quay. Peter also fought tirelessly for the replacement of the bridge at Water Street.
With this in mind, and to honour a man who truly represented this community in all its aspects, I recently approached Cllr Sean McEniff, to propose a motion to Donegal Co Council to have the new bridge at Water Street named after him. I would like to take a moment as Mayor of Donegal to make a presentation to Peter’s son Cllr Jonathan Kennedy, accepting on behalf of his mother Nancy, in recognition of the great contribution that Peter Kennedy made to the area.
In conclusion, I would like to give my personal and honest appraisal of the workings of the office of Mayor under the Community Chamber. From the day I took office, there were times when I had to wonder who was Mayor - the Community Chamber or myself. My understanding on taking office was that I would promote Donegal Town, economically, socially, and culturally. How misguided I was! I felt that I was constantly restricted and held back by the Community Chamber in my efforts to achieve any of these goals. Suggestions I made, such as public forums, accountability, follow-through and other constructive motions, fell on deaf ears and I have to say that this was clearly a case of shoot the messenger - and definitely don’t listen to the message.
A typical example of these kind of restrictive measures took place less than twenty-four hours ago at a meeting organised by the Community Chamber with public representatives in the Mill Park Hotel. I was informed by the Chairman on my arrival, and in front of other public representatives and directors of the Chamber, that I was not invited - that it was a closed meeting. By doing this, Mr Chairman, not alone did you insult me and the Mayor’s office but you also insulted yourself and the office you represent as chairman of the Community Chamber.
Other examples of these kind of restricted practices took place at the monthly meetings of the Chamber, where I, as Mayor, was expected to come and give a report for 15 mins and leave once completed. This to me is a total insult to the chain of office. Personally, I thought I was bringing a considerable amount of business experience on board and felt that I could have influenced other like-minded people to also contribute to the future development of Donegal Town with the support of the Community Chamber, but I am afraid, once again, this was not the case. In my humble opinion, the ethos of the Community Chamber appears to be more based on control as apposed to achieving anything constructive. In the last 10 long years, we have not seen enough roll-over of directors, of new members - people with innovative ideas and drive.
I do sincerely acknowledge the good work that has been done, in particular the FAS scheme, the playground and also the on-going work with the proposed provision of the defibrillators and the CCTV system for the Diamond. But this, in my mind, is not enough, we should have developed our own internal town plan, working in tangent with the developers, we should have shown more leadership and imagination going forward into the future.
In conclusion, if the Chamber is ever to fully flourish, the Mayor’s office and the other positions such as the development officer/manager need to be given full scope and the freedom to develop. The Chamber should be willing to let others have the opportunity. We have had 10 years of the same faces, same ideas, this clearly cannot be seen as a fair representation of the potential for leadership in this town. In relation to the Mayor’s office, it is my personal opinion that it is time that it was handed back to the people of Donegal Town to vote on.
Finally, I would like finish by thanking all those who supported me in my term of office. In particular, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support, and especially my wife Anna Marie and son Colum for their patience over the last two years.
Ernan Answers Accusations
In response, Ernan McGettigan agreed that Ciaran was entitled to his opinion but explained that the meeting held on Monday was a closed session between the directors of Donegal Town Community Chamber and public representatives from this area. “I did not push Ciaran out of that meeting. The local press arrived and I also asked them to leave. That is my job as chairman - Ciaran retired as a director as was his perogrative. We are not perfect - no organisation is - and I want to say we have never tried to stop anybody coming on board. It is a democratic vote on every occasion. It is an insult to the present directors, those stepping down, and those of the past, basically being accused of doing nothing – we do our best – we all, like Ciaran, are doing it on a voluntary basis. The intrim report identified that the Coumunity Chamber is the way forward to represent both the community and business. We are moving forward - and results are on the ground. We have never been one-sided on any development waiting to come to Donegal - we promoted all developments equally and will continue to do so.”
From the floor
Then it was time for the floor to have their say. Tony Brennan had some advice for the outgoing Mayor saying that he should not to air his grievances in public, especially not in front of the press as they were only interested in creating dissention, “washing dirty linen in public is not the place. The newspapers are full of it. It gives a bad impression to people outside the town. We are trying to take in civil servants - if they read this in the paper it is not very attractive. If we have something to say, keep it within the town. All the press is here - and its function is to create dissention. You don’t get good news in the papers. If you are going to say something, don’t say it while the press is present.”
Eddie Marshall was next up to say that if we don’t have a forum to speak out and freedom of speech where are we going. “any other business is usually rushed through in five minutes. This is our opportunity to express our feelings. So if you like it, or don’t like it, we must have the freedom of speech” Eddie said.
Cllr Barry O’Neill agreed with Eddie Marshall and said this country was built on freedom of speech “If you have something to say, you should say it.” He went on to describe the mood in the room as frustrated and said the reality was that south Donegal has the highest unemployment in the country “I am not running in the general election, so it’s not politics - we are getting the smallest piece of the cake. Michael Martin can create 2,500 jobs in Cork and here in Donegal we have one project creating 56 jobs. The lack of action from the IDA is apparent in the south of the county over the last ten years. This is Enterprise Week and there is not one seminar south of Ballybofey - what does that say. We don’t want promises - this is not about politics - it is about reality.”
On a happier theme, Paula Ryle congratulated the Chamber on the Christmas lights and the playground saying that both brought great joy to her grandchildren. The meeting ended on this positive note and all retired to the back of the room where tea and dainties were served.
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AVS GOES GREEN
Pictured in the boiler house of the Abbey Vocational School, are Directors of DLDC, who supplied €50.000 in funding under the Leader+ Programme, for the newly installed biomas boiler which now heats the school. The boiler runs on woodchips, which are cheaper and more enviromentally friendly than oil, and other schools are now looking at this way of heating for cutting down on energy costs. Pictured are Martin McBride, [DLDC]; Frank Kelly, [DLDC and Leader]; Jim Slevin, [Chairman DLDC]; Alec Reid, [DSL Renewable Energy]; Geoff Sully, [DLDC] and John Starrett, [DLDC]. Photo Michael O Donnell.
On Friday, March 9th, Minister Mary Coughlan TD switched on the new Woodfuel Renewable Energy System at the Abbey Vocational School, Donegal Town, ending dependence on fossil fuels for heating the 1000 student school and sports complex. Fuel for the new 300KW boiler will come from local forests, creating a market for non-commercial trees and thinnings for the farming community and for new woodfuel enterprises, as more such installations come on stream. The AVS project alone will mean one hundred tonnes of CO2 emissions per year will be permanently removed from the atmosphere.
This flagship project marks the start of heating by renewables in large public and private buildings in the north-west. Already many individual houses are installing pellet or woodchip boilers under the SEI Greener Homes Scheme.
