People of east Meath 'want Duleek car tax office re-opened'

The Meath County Council motor tax section in its Duleek civic offices, closed last year as part of council cutbacks, should be re-opened, an independent councillor told a council meeting this week. Seamus O'Neill said the tax office in the Duleek 'one-stop-shop', which had been open until late last year and then centralised back to Navan, had been of incalculable benefit to the people of east Meath. "The people of east Meath want this fantastic facility re-opened. It was a facility that worked very well," he told fellow councillors. He said that when he had arrived at the council headquarters in Navan for the council's monthly meeting on Monday, he found the car park full and people queuing up outside the tax office waiting to have their documentation processed. However, council head of finance Fiona Lawless, said that 85 per cent of all council transactions could easily be done online. Cllr O'Neill said that driving into Navan and car parking in the town could be "trying" at the best of times. It was an extra burden that was being placed on people, many of whom could easily have their motor tax processed when the Duleek section was open. He had come across one woman who had a child in a creche. She was trying to get her car taxed but because she had to drive to Navan and then queue up for her documentation, she had to make the decision "will I get my car taxed or will I go and collect my child?" Some councillors had questioned whether the future of the council's one-stop-shops was in doubt, he added. Cllr Ann Dillon Gallagher said that while she was happy to second Cllr O'Neill's motion calling on the council to re-open the vehicle tax section in Duleek, she was not aware of any concerns about the future of the one-stop-shops. "Duleek is one of the flagships of the one-stop-shops," she said. Referring to the tax section, she said that while she was aware of the financial constraints on the council, it was still a community facility that was dropped. The one-stop-shop idea is brilliant. People can go in there and get their business done instead of having to drive into Navan." Cllr Nick Killian said he had just heard that the housing section was being removed from the Ashbourne and Dunshaughlin civic offices. He told Meath County Manager Tom Dowling: "I know money is tight but we have to have some definitive answer as to how we are going to deal with these one-stop-shops." Cllr Jimmy Fegan said a member of the staff of the council should be appointed to help people who were trying to do their transactions online. Cllr Bryan Reilly said he agreed in principle with Cllr O'Neill's motion. He said the one-stop-shops had originally been proposed "not as a fine edifice", but because there was a need in the different areas of the county. To lose an office such as this when you had already had it was bad enough, but the people of Kells had never had such a facility, he said. Cllr Joe Bonner said he had serious concerns about reducing a service that supplied the surrounding areas of towns in the county. Cllr Noel Leonard said he would be oppose any move to take the housing section out of Dunshaughlin. County Manager Mr Dowling said that Cllr O'Neill's motion was a very important one. In an ideal world, they would like to be able to supply services locally but there was a drain on resources in operating the area offices. He said he was able to say definitively that some of the services which had been centralised in Navan had improved. He did not feel that the quality of the services had disimproved since moving to Navan. "I think we should encourage more people to use online services - I really do believe that," he said. Fiona Lawless said that 85 per cent of all council transactions by the public could be done online. She warned councillors that they were entering a "very difficult" financial period. She said that if the vehicle tax sections were to be restored to Duleek and Dunshaughlin, "we would be talking about serious money".