'A number have attempted and failed to disrupt our plan'

Paul Murphy

The controversy which blew up last weekend over whether meetings of Meath County Council should be held by zoom only continued today as councillors met for their latest deliberations on a new development plan for the county.

The decision by a majority of the 40 councillors to go ahead with the meeting was again met by protests by councillors who were against the idea of using the internet to conduct council business.

When the meeting was convened today by Cathaoirleach Cllr David Gilroy, 24 councillors – 12 each from Fianna Fail and Fine Gael and one Social Democrat – were present but up to 13 members (nine members of a technical group and three Sinn Fein members) absented themselves from the meeting.

Independent Cllr Joe Bonner protested at the decision to proceed by online means only but said he was staying at the meeting under protest while one Fine Gael member Cllr Noel French said that he would not participate by zoom only and left the meeting. Cllr Paddy Meade, who has poor broadband coverage from his home area of Lobinstown was facilitated by zoom at a council office in Railway Street.

Council Chief Executive Jackie Maguire said that the council had a legal obligation to get the development plan done. There was no option but to proceed with it, she said.

Cathaoirleach Cllr David Gilroy said it was understood that some councillors had difficulty with using zoom because they felt underqualified to be able to handle the technology and in a couple of cases because of poor broadband coverage in their area but the decision to go ahead had been decided democratically.

During a 58-minute debate on the issue, Cllr Bonner proposed that the council write to the Minister asking him to allow a six-month postponement of the development plan and he was supported in this by Fine Gael Cllr Paddy Meade but the CEO aid that there was no statutory provision allowing for an extension of time.

Letters from Cllr Brian Fitzgerald of the Technical Group, Cllr Eddie Fennessy of Sinn Fein and Cllr Bonner protesting at the decision to use zoom only were read into the record.

FG Cllr Joe Fox said that members of the public were entitled to know who had participated in the meeting and who had not and he wanted to proceed with the meeting.

His party colleague Cllr Sharon Tolan said they would only be embarrassing themselves by going back to the Minister with another letter asking for a postponement while Fianna Fail Cllr Sean Drew aid that everything should be done to encourage councillors who were not present to participate in the process. He said that councillors had been elected by the people to carry out their function.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Cllr Alan Tobin, who participated in the meeting, said that a group of elected representatives had attempted to futher delay the development plan, a plan that would decide how the county would develop over the next six years. That plan was already two years behind schedule.

“While a huge proportion of Meath’s working citizens are either working from home or coping with the stress and worry of Covid-19 or indeed having no jobs to go to, this group of our elected representatives decided that even though Meath County Council has spent thousands of euro on their IT to ensure that everyone can participate online and continue the plan efficiently and effectively, they have taken it upon themselves not to attend and not to represent the people they speak on behalf of. A number have attempted and failed to disrupt our plan”.

In a statement Sinn Féin said it had a number of difficulties with council's proposal to resume county development plan meetings.

Cllr Eddie Fennessy said the review of the County Development Plan was the "single most important piece of work that we will undertake as councillors over the next seven years. It requires full, undivided and involved participation. That is simply not possible due to the ongoing restrictions."

"Cllr Aisling O'Neill who works as a nurse in Connolly Hospital will be excluded from the process. Connolly hospital is operating at full capacity at the moment and there's absolutely no chance she can take time off to participate, nor should she be requested to do so.

"Cllr Michael Gallagher lives in one of the worst areas in the county for broadband access, it is not feasible to expect him to participate from the safety of his home in Drumconrath. The signal is so unreliable, there's no guarantee the system wouldn't crash and he'd miss crucial votes.

"From my own perspective childcare a problem. My son contracted Covid-19 last August so I've kept him home from creche to ensure he doesn't contract it again. It would not be possible for me to look after an active two year old child and log on to meetings for prolonged periods of time every day.

"The state is in lockdown, council need to be cognisant of people's circumstances and ability to participate in meetings of such importance. We support councillor Brian Fitzgeralds proposal to defer the process until such time as restrictions have been lifted."

A decision was then taken by the councillors to go ahead with their meeting on the development plan.

See tomorrow's Meath Chronicle for more on this.