Full investigation needed into flawed bye laws
A local councillor has said a full investigation is needed as to how the Drogheda Pay Parking Bye Laws of 2003 were brought before the council in a flawed state which has now led to them having to be suspended.
Councillor Kevin Callan, who is also a practicing barrister, said this is a matter for the council and also the Department responsible for Local Government to investigate as it is leading to a grossly unfair loss and waste of tax payers monies which now have to be taken from other areas of the councils budget.
‘I, like most other public representatives am shocked but I’m also highly concerned that at the budget meeting I was told there was no money for plastic recycling. The amount needed was €135,000. When I asked if any provision could be made for any reduced service I was told at the meeting that there was absolutely no funding to cut from anywhere else. Now we are told this figure of €300,000 can be found and to me that is utterly unacceptable,’ he commented.
‘ This needs to be clarified - who made this error, were these Bye Laws checked and what were the specific errors or omissions.’
Councillor Callan has also sought a copy of the Senior Counsel Opinion from the Chief Executive and has asked for a copy to be circulated to all councillors. ‘Pay parking is our remit, we have powers to set parking amounts. This current mess, and it can only be described as a total mess, is based on an administrative error. We need to establish exactly what happened before throwing hundreds of thousands of euros into the fire based on the colossal mistake made.
‘I will not be supporting a panic approach to reintroducing any bye-Laws until the error has been identified. If this happened in the private sector someone would be held accountable, the same needs to apply in this case. Drogheda will now be inundated with all day parking and residential areas will once more be inundated with cars parking all day such as the Chord Road.