Hynes unhappy about hanging on telephone

INDEPENDENT councillor David Hynes has questioned why Wexford District Council couldn’t have held its May meeting in the chamber at County Hall in Carricklawn as usual, given that there are only seven members and a few officials.

The meeting was conducted by telephone conference with the Mayor, Cllr. George Lawlor, District Manager Angela Laffan and two officials in the room and the other members and officials on the phone.

‘We could have had a meeting and still maintained social distancing. Certainly, for the next meeting, we could do that,’ said Cllr. Hynes, adding that you can’t pass motions via teleconference.

Cllr. Hynes, who is the most senior member of the council, also said he couldn’t understand why the meeting was being held by phone when it could have been done via Zoom. ‘I’m told the reason is that it’s not secure but we’re not talking about State secrets.’

The Mayor said the situation was far from ideal but the IT department would not allow them to use Zoom and are currently looking at using Microsoft Teams.

‘There is also the issue of cocooning, which we have to adhere to. There are people over the age of 70 who are not permitted into the council chamber and who have to cocoon.’

Deputy Chief Executive Tony Larkin said the local authority was trying to get back to work and was due to discuss arrangements at a Covid-19 emergency team meeting the following day.

‘We are trying to bring forward a proposal that would see us get back to meeting in person in June, when some of the restrictions will have been lifted. We could certainly accommodate some of the district meetings in the council chamber, which is big enough.

‘Given the cocooning and travel issues, there is a restriction on meeting in the current climate. We thought it would be good to get at least one round of meetings under way. Our IT department won’t sanction the use of Zoom. If we are to have a meeting again, we will have to use Microsoft Teams.’

Cllr. Hynes said Zoom or Microsoft Teams would be preferable to the telephone.