Staff presence matter for CEO

‘I will not be told what I can do on a day to day basis or how to decide what meetings staff will attend,’ Louth County Council’s chief executive Ms Joan Martin stated after Cllr Kenneth Flood questioned the attendance of officials at a meeting called by another councillor.

The Sinn Fein councillor queried the presence of officials at a meeting called by Cllr Pio Smith, the Mayor of Drogheda, in relation to the Living Cities initiative which had been held in the Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, the previous Monday. The Louth County Council’s chief planner, Anthony Abbot King, was among the speakers at that meeting.

He noted that it had been the policy for officials not to attend meeting which were called by councillors.

Cllr Smith said he had called the meeting as he felt it was an important issue which could help the regeneration of Drogheda. Invitations had been sent to all councillors unlike the case of a previous meeting organised by Sinn Fein.

Ms Martin replied that she had deemed the meeting to be of importance as it dealt making the case for Dundalk and Drogheda to be included in the Living Cities Initiative.

‘ The matter of what staff do is a matter for the executive,’ she said. She told Cllr Flood that if he wished to take issue with her or the Directors of Service over attending meetings he could ‘ but I will not be told what I can do on a day to day basis or now to decide what meetings staff will attend.’