Eyebrows raised as councillors left out
THE decision to allocate funding of € 380,000 funding to four designated areas across Sligo was made without consulting the local councillors. Councillors at Monday’s meeting of Sligo Municipal District raised their disappointment that they were not spoken to ahead of the four areas - Tubbercurry, Enniscrone, Ballisodare and Grange being selected for the funding.
The money was part of the Town & Village Renewal Scheme. Council Engineer Michael Carty was explaining the allocation of the funding and how it was going to be divided up equally among the four areas in question.
Cllr Sean MacManus said the money was welcome and it was reasonable to divide it up equally, meaning each region would benefit from € 90,000. He added: “I express disappointment surrounding the lack of consultation with us public representatives in relation to this. I would have loved to have pushed for Strandhill to receive some funding,” he said.
Cllr Seamus Kilgannon said the € 380,000 was a lot of money and it was extremely welcome and again expressed concern over the lack of consultation. “Carney is an area surely that could have been selected. It’s an area that has a lot of young families and it certainly could do with some funding to make it more attractive,” he added.
Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr Hubert Keaney, said he welcomed the funding, adding that whatever funding comes it is never enough. “I’m very disappointed there was no consultation with public representatives. Many didn’t find out until they heard through the grapevine, that’s no way to conduct business. I got two irate phone calls last week from village groups. Hopefully if we get funding like this next year that we will approach it differently.”
Council Engineer Michael Carty told the meeting that the application process for the funding had to be made at short notice and the council wasn’t advised until mid August with regard to submitting an application.
The four areas in question were drafted as Grange had a population growth of 100%, Ballisodare and Tubbercurry both 50% while Enniscrone had in excess of 80%. The application had to be submitted by the end of September.
Sligo County Council CEO Ciaran Hayes said the criticism regarding the lack of consultation was fair. “I think the criticism is very fair criticism.
“The notification came down in August, this was not the way we like to do business.
“It came at a time staff were under very severe pressure with Fáilte Ireland grants.
“There was very serious work done to get the application in at short notice.
“I had direct discussions with the Direc- tor of Services and my main concern was that we wouldn’t miss out on the funding,” the CEO said.
The request was to have two schemes in north Sligo and two in south Sligo.
“The schemes fit the criteria and I fully credit Dorothy ( Clarke) and Michael and the team to turn this around at short notice.
“Certainly regarding future applications, we will have advance notice to engage with you.”
The money has to be spent by the end of the year, the councillors were told.