No guarantees on outdoor workers

SEVERAL options to secure enough outdoor staff for the Council over the coming winter months were outlined at this month’s County Council meeting.

It remains far from certain however, that the staff will be guaranteed.

Councillor Paul Taylor asked if the Council had applied for additional staff under any new schemes or had identified any possibility of keeping 12 extra outdoor staff.

“Everyone had in the back of their minds that this would be a long term committment ,” he told the meeting, referring to the 12 staff taken on specifically to repair roads damaged by Storm Desmond.

“I would ask that if a percentage of the work contracted out could be done by our own staff, would it allow us to keep the 12 outdoor staff?” he enquired of Director of Services Dorothy Clarke.

Ms Clarke said the best option was to go to the Department of Local Government in early 2017 to look for staff for the 2017 season on a temporary basis.

“I would be hopeful the Department would respond positively,” she told Cllr Taylor.

“I would much prefer if they were permanent but we have to deal with what’s in front of us. We have to deal with November to February now,” she said.

Councillor Margaret Gormley said: “We are being singled out. I would hope that the workers taken on - they’re doing a fantastic job - would be kept on to allow us to provide a service for all the people of the county.”

The Council also hopes a small number of temporary outdoor staff working with Irish Water will be made permanent. Discussions with unions locally about this have taken place in the last three weeks but an agreement has yet to be finalised, said officials.