Sports groups disappointed over civic receptions

Councillors have queried why two Wexford sports groups promised civic receptions to honour achievements were never afforded them.

Cllr. David Hynes said members of Wexford handballers were very disappointed at the way they were treated while Cllr. Tom Forde re-iterated an earlier request for an explanation as to why the Academy of Martial Arts was not given a civic reception as promised.

‘ The handballers were promised a civic reception and it never happened. If they were hurlers, it would have happened’, said Cllr. Hynes at a District Council meeting.

‘ They were not honoured the way they should have been, for whatever reason’, he said, adding that the Protocol Committee which considers requests for civic receptions had not met for the past year or so.

‘It’s now too late for this group. It would be an insult to afford them a civic reception at this stage’.

Mayor of Wexford, Cllr. George Lawlor said the promise was made before his term began and what he had suggested to them and the other group involved, was that it would be more appropriate for them to be recognised in a new Council awards scheme.

‘We haven’t enough resources to be providing numerous civic receptions’, said the Mayor, who had explained at an earlier meeting that the budget for civic receptions was significantly reduced.

Cllr. Forde said he is a member of the Protocol Committee and he understood that this type of issue would be discussed by the members.

‘Can I please ask that if there are questions to be addressed in future, that they would be put before the Protocol Committee.

In relation to the Academy of Martial Arts, Cllr. Lawlor said the request for a civic reception came at a stage when the Council had run out of funding for such events. He explained that in the chamber and in correspondence.

He said this would have been the fourth civic reception that this group received over a number of years and the Council could not honour groups on numerous occasions.

‘I do take your point about the Protocol Committee.There should have been more meetings held’, he said.

Cllr. Forde asked: ‘Is it the Mayor of the Protocol Committee that decides who gets a civic reception’.

Cllr. Lawlor replied that sometimes it’s the Mayor of the day.

‘So it’s in the Mayor’s gift to award civic receptions’, asked Cllr. Hynes.

‘Is it the Mayor then or the Protocol Committee’,

asked Cllr. Leonard Kelly.

Cllr. Lawlor said he afforded a civic reception to Relay for Life and he was sure nobody in the chamber would object to that.

Cllr. Hynes accused him of misleading the Council and the Mayor replied that he wasn’t misleading anyone.

District Manager Angela Laffan said it was within the remit of the Mayor of the day to afford a group a civic reception and sometimes civic receptions were brought to the Protocol Committee retrospectively.

Some groups were getting reception after reception and the Council cut back on civic receptions last year.

‘We need to be able to spread it across all groups’, she said.

Cllr. John Hegarty said he didn’t think the system was necessarily broken but maybe it neded to be tightened a little bit.