NEW ROSS Town Council has been criticised for the manner with which it reacted to the horrific storm that rocked the town on Wednesday causing thousands of Euro worth of damage.
Social media sites were full of criticism as some members of the local authority left New Ross for a conference within 24 hours of the storm hitting the town.
The incident, which occurred on Wednesday, caused severe damage to the roof of the multi-million Euro Apex swimming pool and leisure complex while asbestos was blown to the ground in Rosbercon.
While the actions of the Council officials and staff in terms of how they dealt with the situation ‘on the ground’ was praised from a variety of quarters the lack of action in organising an emergency meeting of the local authority was criticised.
The Echo can reveal that both Cllr. Michael Sheehan and John Dwyer submitted a request on Wednesday evening that a special meeting of the local authority be convened in the wake of the storm.
The Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Niamh Fitzgibbon, posted on her Facebook page on Thursday night that a special meeting of the local authority was to take place on Friday. However, earlier that day [Thursday] councillors had left New Ross to attend an AMAI conference in Donegal and when The Echo contacted Town Manager, Eamonn Hore, on Friday morning to enquire about the time of the special meeting he admitted knowing nothing about it.
“I haven’t heard anything about a meeting but if the councillors want me to be there I will,” he said.
Cllrs. Sheehan and Dwyer also confirmed to this newspaper that they had no word on a meeting being arranged despite Cllr. Fitzgibbon posting it on her social media page.
The Cathaoirleach updated her Facebook page at 10.52 a.m. on Friday and said that three items would be on the agenda: The Apex, the [recent] floods and Albatros.
Cllr. Fitzgibbon went into detail as to what would be discussed in relation to all three matters and in the case of Albatros said that while the local authority is not directly responsible for the site its deterioration is of “deep concern” to members. She also suggested the HSA would have a role in the site, however, that would not be case unless there were employees there.
Cllr. Fitzgibbon then posted: “My role is to seek feedback on what has happened, draw on expert advice and plan for solutions. Anything I am told, the public is entitled to know and I will share this.”
She also complimented the management and staff at the Apex for how they dealt with the incident on Wednesday.
However, later on Friday she posted that a meeting wasn’t feasible because a quorum couldn’t be reached due to councillors being away [some at the conference: Cllrs. Victor Furness, Anthony Connick and Ollie Somers]. Other councillors confirmed to The Echo they were unable to attend due to work commitments: Cllr. Annette Larkin and Cllr. Jas O’Callaghan.
On Saturday morning, at 9.20 a.m., Cllr. Fitzgibbon posted a Facebook message saying that she requested a meeting with the Town Manager, Eamonn Hore, the previous day. She said she did so on foot of the fact that a quorum was unable to be reached to conduct a council meeting.
However, Cllrs. Sheehan and Dwyer were critical of the fact their request for an emergency meeting of the Council wasn’t adhered to earlier than Friday.
“It should have been done straight away,” said Cllr. Sheehan.
“If it had been held on Thursday morning then maybe I would have considered going to the AMAI conference,” he added.
Cllr. Dwyer also said the meeting should have been held as a matter of priority, however, he said the Albatros site poses the bigger threat to health and safety in the town and is calling for the matter to be dealt with urgently.
Cllr. Victor Furness is the Chairperson of New Ross Sport & Leisure Ltd., the organisation set up to run the Apex. He was also critical of the fact an emergency meeting wasn’t held prior to him and his colleagues travelling to Donegal.
“What was to stop it being held on Thursday morning?” he said, when contacted by this newspaper.
“If it had been we could have attended and then gone to the conference,” he added.
“As it was the meeting was arranged after we had travelled away.”
The Echo phoned Cllr. Fitzgibbon twice on Friday for a comment but she was unable to answer the call before the paper went to press, however, she did email a report from a ‘questions and answers’ session that she said took place between her and Town Manager, Eamonn Hore, in relation to the three items on the agenda of the special meeting – which didn’t materialise.
Town Manager, Eamonn Hore, meet with representatives of the Albatros site owners yesterday and a reports on all incidents that occurred throughout the week were presented to the councillors at their monthly meeting in the Tholsel Tuesday evening.
At that meeting Cllr. Fitzgibbon read a prepared statement to the councillors in which she said that all efforts were made to contact the members to arrange an emergency meeting and that when such a meeting couldn’t be convened she took it upon herself to ask the Town Manager for answers relating to the events of the week. She also said she used social media as a tool to get the message out to “as many people as possible”.
