So many questions, so little time... Cllrs claiming time slots to grill transport chiefs at upcoming meeting is too tight

A planned meeting between Meath county councillors and the country’s three transport authorities to discuss transport issues in the county has already run into controversy with some councillors claiming that the time slot allocated to each municipal district is too short.

The meeting is to take place on 8th May next and will involve TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland), Bus Eireann and Irish Rail.

The arrangement is that the three bodies will discuss the Greater Dublin Transport Strategy with the councillors. Representatives of the organisations will make a 15-minute presentation by Zoom and it is intended to follow this with 30-minute question and answer sessions for each of Meath’s six municipal districts.

Each municipal district is being asked to line up their queries at the next meeting of each MD in preparation for the 8th May meeting. These questions will be provided to the transport authorities in advance of 8th May.

Commenting on the pending meeting Independent Cllr Gillian Toole said there had been a “ping pong” of correspondence leading up to the meeting. She said that while it was great to get a date, it was also shameful because they were speaking at a time when there was a climate emergency and when 68 or 69 per cent of Meath’s adults were outward bound commuters from the county. The matter of transport had been raised by herself and Cllr Mike Bray last November.

She said there were numerous stories of transport customers “being left stranded”, and delays getting to work. “If you were a business owner you’d be fairly disgusted. It’s an abuse of a monopoly by one player here. On the other hand we have a climate emergency and we are about to publish our report and it’s taken five months to actually get a date for this meeting. To be honest, I’d nearly tell you I’d be nearly damned if I’m going to put in questions because over the last eight or nine years, of all the meetings with TII and Bus Eireann – separately, never together – seldom does anybody there have any information about punctuality, in terms of fares, linkages to the M3 Parkway”.

“We need answers, we don’t need to be putting in more questions. We want answers to the questions we started asking eight years ago”.

Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan said that there were seven members in her MD Laytown Bettystown and the arrangements would mean that each person would get just five minutes to speak.

“I can tell you I have 30 minutes of questions myself alone never mind my other six colleagues whom I’m sure will all have issues and questions. I think that 30 minutes is very short and it certainly doesn’t encourage robust and open dialogue between the parties”.

“It seems to be on their terms and their terms only," she said.

Independent Cllr David Gilroy said it would be reasonable to ask the transport authorities to give answers in advance to the questions that had already been asked.