Elected representatives (all grades), were given an extra week to answer 3 simple questions, latter posed some 7 weeks previously. We here at Thurles.Info fully understand that when you are holding down two full-time occupations, both operating simultaneously, things can get slightly up in a heap, if you are attempting to give required necessary attention to both employments. In the words of Abraham Lincoln; “A house divided against itself, cannot stand.”
Having waited over 5 weeks with no replies, we again published publicly our concerns and refreshed our original emails privately, to the individuals named hereunder, setting a time deadline of one week for the answer to the 3 original questions. That deadline, which is now closed, ran out on August 27th 2020.
Inner Relief Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary
The 3 questions which required answers from (A) Templemore / Thurles Municipal district; (B) Tipperary Co. Council officials; (C) Mr Michael Lowry TD and (D) Mr Jackie Cahill TD, were as follows:-
(1). Will the planned Thurles inner relief road impinge, in a negative way, on the 1846 Thurles “Double Ditch”, which has been a right of way and a Mass Path for almost 175 years and which is the property of the people of Thurles and a national monument? (2). What are the future plans for the 1798 memorial statue [The Stone Man], first erected in Liberty Square, Thurles in 1900, and still standing there, awaiting possible removal prior to the new upgrade? Note: [We recently published replies on this matter HERE.] (3). Which Municipal District Councillor is responsible for delaying the Thurles Recycling Civic Amenity, which this town so badly needs?
We refreshed our original email, of 5 weeks previous, on August 22nd 2020 to:- seamus.hanafin@tipperarycoco.ie, – Note: Mr Seamus Hanafin replied in full. seano.ryan@tipperarycoco.ie, – Note: Mr Sean Ryan replied in full. It is important for the local electorate, to note before the next local elections, that of the 14 people contacted, only 2 elected officials answered our 3 questions, namely Mr Sean Ryan(Fianna Fáil) and Mr Seamus Hanafin (Fianna Fáil). Latter are also probably the only councillors who actually work and achieve in our Thurles Municipal District. If I am wrong, please send me details of all your previous achievements, so that I can publish them with your picture and offer my sincerest public apology for any of my short comings.
At this point it is well worth taking a look at payments to Tipperary County Councillors (1st January to 31st March 2020), per a Tipperary County Council pdf shown HERE. (Scroll down the pages of this pdf to see individual earnings.)
So without getting into the ‘Nitty Gritty’ of financial payments/expenses to local councillors, we appear to be talking about a one 12 week period, with Councillors getting on average €8,000 = €666.66 per week, (almost weekly double Covid-19 payments) to people, most of whom find it beneath them to answer a simple email question.
Silence denotes both compliance and betrayal.
We acknowledge the fact that we received 1 automatic reply from Ms Roisin O’Grady stating “I am on leave Monday August 24th and will respond to your email on my return”. However Ms O’Grady had plenty of opportunity to reply 5 weeks before going on holidays, but had failed to do so. Ms O’Grady’s job title, ‘Tipperary Heritage Officer & Creative Ireland Coordinator’ appears to be more honoured in tradition than observance and her failure to respond is either what Mr John McGuinness TD once called official “obfuscation”, i.e. her bosses, making certain information she may have sought, obscure, unclear, or unintelligible.
We acknowledge an automatic reply from Mr Joe MacGrath, who stated “if this matter requires attention prior to the 18th August, 2020. I am away from my office.” Today is Monday the 7th day of September, still no reply from Mr MacGrath, CE Tipperary Co. Council. On behalf of Mr MacGrath two acknowledgements were received from a Staff Officer in Corporate Services, on the 11th day of August which stated “I acknowledge receipt of your email below on behalf of Joe MacGrath, Chief Executive and confirm that the matter is receiving attention”. The ‘attention’ was supposed to come from Mr Marcus O’Connor (latter Director of Services Roads, Transportation, Infrastructure and Nenagh Municipal District). You have guessed it, Mr O’Connor decided 7 weeks ago to ignore the instructions of Mr MacGrath, (CE Tipperary Co. Council).
After almost 6 weeks of silence we received a reply from Tipperary Independent TD Mr Michael Lowry. Laughingly, Mr Lowry TD states, “I wish to acknowledge your email. Unfortunately, I don’t always have access to my emails, and this may result in a delayed reply. If your query is urgent please contact my office on (0504) 22022 or email: michael.lowry@oireachtas.ie.”
Perhaps the oddest reply however came from a member of “The Michael Lowry Team”, namely team member and Councillor Mr Eddie Moran. Mr Moran replied and I quote directly “Don’t like skip all emails”. We are still trying to interpret the true meaning of Mr Moran’s email communication.
Not surprisingly, TD Mr Jackie Cahill, the new Chairman of some meagre Agriculture Committee or other, and who we are aware had returned from his ‘Spring Recess’ spent in Cheltenham Race Festival, Gloucestershire, England, during the Covid-19 lockdown, can’t open his mail box either, so 7 weeks later and despite 2 emails received by him, he has failed completely to reply.
Finally, we also received a standard reply from the office of Mr Malcolm Noonan, T.D., (Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform). Mr Noonan stated, “Thank you for contacting the departmental office of Malcolm Noonan, T.D., Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform. Your email will be reviewed and a response will issue in due course, should one be required. Le gach dea-ghuí”. We expect to talk to Minister Noonan shortly.
Questions seeking replies, were not sent to Mr Mattie McGrath TD or Mr Alan Kelly TD, as same were regarded as being a waste of precious time, based on previous dealings with both offices.
So Where Do We Go From Here? The ‘Code of Conduct for Councillors’, please view HERE; prescribed under the Local Government Act of 2001, states clearly :- “The public is entitled to expect conduct of the highest standards from all those involved in the local government service, be they councillors, county/city managers, other local authority staff or non-councillor members (“external members”) of local authority committees. The Local Government Act 2001 (“the Act”) sets out a new ethical framework and imposes a statutory duty on all in the local government service to maintain proper standards of integrity, conduct and concern for the public interest. The general conduct and behaviour of councillors in carrying out their role is an important yardstick by which the honesty, integrity, impartiality and performance of local government is judged and public trust maintained. It is important therefore that these core values underpin all actions of councillors affecting local authority business. As holders of elected office they have a duty to keep faith with the public trust placed in them. This is a personal responsibility and requires them to observe the highest ethical standards in the performance of their role.”
This statement is in no way contained in small print for our elected public representativesto read.
We have now contacted the Standards In Public Office Commission (SIPO) and we understand that complaints concerning local authority officials should first be made to the Ethics Registrar, stationed within the relevant local authority.
Tipperary Co. Council has, through their switchboard operator, confirmed to us on Tuesday last, as did the Standards In Public Office Commission, that Mr Ger Walsh(Senior Executive Officer, Corporate Services), is currently the Co. Tipperary ‘Ethics Registrar’. Failure now by Mr Walsh to persuade the named local councillors and officials to reply to the questions asked previously, and to apologise for their attempt to undermine the people of Thurles; will result in the matter being again returned and dealt with, directly by SIPO.
Complaints concerning our 2 local TD’s should, according to SIPO, be raised with the Committee on Members Interests. Regrettably however, the work of this Committee ceased with the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil on January 14th last. Having contacted the Houses of the Oireachtas, we now learn that Quote; “the Committee on Members’ Interests has again been established and we expect Membership and staffing to be arranged shortly, when the 33rd Dáil returns from its summer recess”.
The people of Thurles have a right to know what decisions are being made behind the scenes, from those we select on our behalf. From today, all further communications received by this website, from those we have called into question above, will be published publicly, for our 8,000 daily readers.
Following legal advice today, we will be commenting further on what we believe is an attempt to destroy existing Thurles heritage, by those sworn to protect heritage and the local and business community.
Alas, we find ourselves in a situation, where our politicians and councillors, in recent days, here in Co. Tipperary, have rejected Covid-19 frontline worker e.g. Nurses, Doctors, Gardaí, Retail Staff, Teachers, Postal Workers, etc., throwing their support instead, behind a dozen publicans. Their action, defy the advice and wishes of the elected Irish Government and the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), in their efforts to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic currently destroying our economy.
When politicians and councillors run to hide in back offices in the days ahead, those remaining to work in the frontline should, come the next local and general elections, express their rage at the ballot box.
As we expected, it has been confirmed this afternoon that Fianna Fáil’s Charlie McConalogue has been nominated as the new Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
The Donegal TD now succeeds Mr Dara Calleary, who resigned last month over his attendance at the Oireachtas golf society dinner, latter held in Galway, which also led to the resignation of EU Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan.
Tipperary Fianna Fáil TD Mr Jackie Cahill, who had expressed a serious interest in this post; using press, social media and radio interviews, was not considered for this Agriculture portfolio.
Mr Cahill, was one of the Irish racegoers who returned from the Cheltenham racing festival in the United Kingdom, having socialised in an area which had held some 250,000 other racegoers over the Cheltenham festival event.
Like other Irish lovers of the ‘Sport of Kings’, Mr Cahill did not have to be screened for Coronavirus COVID-19, when he and others travelled through our Irish ports and airports and was foolishly not asked to self-isolate. Mr Brian Kavanagh (Chief Executive of Horse Racing Ireland) has since admitted that, with the benefit of hindsight, the Cheltenham festival should not have taken place.
After all, only 81 persons had been at the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in Clifden, Co. Galway on the 19th August 2020, when Mr Phil Hogan had to retire, as did then Minister for Agriculture Mr Dara Calleary TD.
Councillors, Mr Seamus Hanifin and Mr Sean Ryan (Elected Members Thurles Municipal District Council) have both moved quickly to confirmed that the 1798 Memorial statue, better known locally as the ‘Stone Man’, will not be moved or indeed removed from its current position overlooking Liberty Square, in Thurles town, Co. Tipperary.
1798 Memorial erected on Liberty Square, Thurles in 1901
In an email addressing a number of key questions sent from Thurles.Info, Cllr. Mr Seamus Hanafin stated; “There are no plans to move the monument on Liberty Square, either during or after the works”.
Answering this same question, Cllr. Mr Sean Ryan further confirmed this welcome news, stating; “I am informed by the council’s engineering staff that the statues in Liberty square will not be moved during the upgrade of the square”.
Fears expressed to Thurles.Info some weeks ago, were based, understandably, on an early drawing of the ‘new look’ sanctioned Liberty square, (Image shown above) which appears to indicate that the statue of Archbishop Thomas William Croke, (First G.A.A. Patron) would be moved to replace the ‘Stone Man’, latter which would be then be moved elsewhere, out of its current streetscape position.
To read more on the history of the 1798 Memorial please view HERE. To read more on the history of Archbishop Thomas William Croke, First G.A.A. Patron, please view HERE.
The 2020 Irish general election took place on Saturday February 8th, 2020 to elect members to the 33rd Dáil Éireann, latter the lower house of the Ireland’s parliament. [And despite 3 parties in charge getting lower]. The election was called following the dissolution of the 32nd Dáil, by Mr Michael Daniel Higgins, ninth President of Ireland; and at the request of the then Taoiseach, Mr Leo Varadkar, on January 14th, 2020.
Some 29 weeks have now passed since that General Election date.
The responsibility for the enforcement of this stated litter law, here in Co. Tipperary, lies solely with the local authority, which in this case is Tipperary County Council and Templemore / Thurles Municipal District.
Travelling to view and walk the “Double Ditch” some days ago, I came across a continuing offender of this particular Litter Pollution Act, namely the failed German Prof. Dr. Dolores Cahill, latter a member of the minor right-wing, hard Eurosceptic political party here in Ireland, which call themselves ‘The Irish Freedom Party’, or is it ‘Yellow Vest Movement’, (So difficult to know who is who any more what with face masks being worn).
We had already notified Tipperary Co. Council on March 1st of 2 posters abandoned by Prof. Cahill, who had taken the opportunity to further introduce herself by breaching stipulated time frames as to such election posters. [No we are not aware what penalties were enacted in the past, if any.]
So what are the penalties in place for breaches of the legislation governing election posters?
Any election posters in place before or after the stipulated time-frame is deemed to be in breach of the legislation are subject to an on-the-spot litter fine of €150 per week.
By our ageing calculator, Dr. Dolores Cahill this week owes €4,354.00 to Tipperary County Council or Templemore / Thurles Municipal District. Will they collect, we ask, thus assisting with the wages of the individuals racing around checking who has recycling bins and no doubt advising on how to get a 3 seater couch into a green bin?
It would appear that Irish Independent politician and Teachta Dála Mr Mattie McGrath isn’t the only one ‘asleep on the job’.
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – Quote George Santayana (Spanish Philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist.)
The historic flagstones upon which Padraig Pearse read the 1916 Proclamation outside of Dublin’s General Post Office (GPO) have gone missing, possibly lost for ever to future generations.
The responsible body, namely Dublin City Council, admit that they do not know where these historic paving stones presently exist or whether they were ever reused elsewhere in its city streets.
Dublin City Council has since confirmed that following the refurbishment of O’Connell Street, sometime between the years 2004 and 2007, these historic stones were removed by the Road Maintenance Services and sent to a storage depot in Railway Street, Mountjoy in Dublin. It was planned that they should be re-used by Road Maintenance Services crews in Dublin city centre locations, where similar paving required complementing. Regrettably, the records held in Road Maintenance Services do not show where exactly this historic paving from O’Connell street was ever re-used.
Is similar destruction about to be foisted on the residents and business people of Thurles, courtesy Tipperary Co. Council?
Similar destruction may also be about to happen, courtesy Tipperary Co. Council, under the leadership of Mr Joe MacGrath(Chief Executive Tipp. Co. Co.) and Mr Marcus O’Connor(Director of Services for Roads, Transportation and InfrastructureTipp. Co. Co.).
Yes, we are referring to the possible destruction of the “Double Ditch”. We ask our readers to refresh their memories HERE.
Please see Thurles inner relief road map hereunder, drawn up by Tipperary Co. Council, which appears to indicate that the “Double Ditch”, linking College Lane with the Mill Road is about to be partially at least eradicated.
We had hoped to get reassurance regarding the preservation of the “Double Ditch” and a commitment to its upgrade as a tourist attraction, when we wrote to all elected public representatives and senior Council officials, some 5 weeks ago. However, the silence emanating from all local elected politicians, including Fianna Fáil TD Mr Jackie Cahill; Independent TD Mr Michael Lowry and all County Councillors, within the Templemore / Thurles Municipal District, leave us now fearing the worst possible scenario.
We now cannot be sure what exactly Tipperary County Council is planning. We are aware Mr Joe MacGrath CE instructed his Secretary, Ms Evelyn Harty, to request that Mr Marcus O’Connor contact us over 5 weeks ago. Alas, Mr O’Connor has failed to do so.
A subsequent 4 week reminder, sent by us, to Mr MacGrath’s office received the following reply from Mr Joe MacGrath’s Secretary, “I acknowledge receipt of your email below on behalf of Joe MacGrath, Chief Executive and confirm that the matter is receiving attention”.
Prior to the formation of the present coalition government, we corresponded with Ms Josepha Madigan TD last May, who was then acting Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
In correspondence received from her, Ms Madigan stated, and I quote, “So far as we understand, there is no direct impact on the “Double Ditch” from any current development. The Department is a statutory consultee in the planning and development process, but our role in this regard is to respond to particular development proposals as referred to us by the planning authority. If there is a particular proposed development which you believe to be of concern, and you can send us details, we can review further.”
A further query was sent to Ms Madigan via Ms Helen Francis(Private Secretary to Minister Ms Madigan), which went totally unanswered.
Since then, Irish Green Party politician Mr Malcolm Noonan TD, has taken on the role of Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform. While our correspondence to him was eventually acknowledged, to date no further information has been forthcoming from his office. Mr Noonan’s Private Secretary, Ms Danielle McDonnell stated: “On behalf of Mr. Malcolm Noonan TD, Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, I wish to acknowledge receipt of your recent emails in relation to Thurles / Famine Double Ditch. A further reply will issue as soon as possible”.
There comes a time when silence is betrayal.
The spread of misinformation is not achieved by words only; but also on numerous occasions by people remaining completely silent. We have contacted all elected personnel representing Thurles; requesting the answers to 3 simple questions within the last 3 months; result has been silence. This cannot be allowed to continue.
I might point out to Mr Joe MacGrath CE, Mr Marcus O’Connor and all County Councillors the Code of Conduct for Councillors, prescribed under the Local Government Act of 2001.
Need I quote directly from this document: “The public is entitled to expect conduct of the highest standards from all those involved in the local government service, be they councillors, county/city managers, other local authority staff or non-councillor members (“external members”) of local authority committees. The Local Government Act 2001 (“the Act”) sets out a new ethical framework and imposes a statutory duty on all in the local government service to maintain proper standards of integrity, conduct and concern for the public interest.“
The 3 questions which now need to be answered by Tipperary Co. Council officials; Templemore / Thurles Municipal District Councillors; Michael Lowry TD and Jackie Cahill TD, are as follows and require simple answers:-
(1). Will the planned Thurles inner relief road impinge, in a negative way, on the 1846 Thurles “Double Ditch”, which has been a right of way and a Mass Path for almost 175 years and which is the property of the people of Thurles?
(2). What are the future plans for the 1798 memorial statue [The Stone Man], first erected in Liberty Square, Thurles in 1900, and still standing there, awaiting removal prior to the new upgrade?
(3). Which Municipal District Councillor is responsible for delaying the Thurles Recycling Civic Amenity, which this town so badly needs?
Please answer these 3 questions in writing please, as failure to do so has already placed you in breach of Tipp. County Council Policy,i.e.“Tipperary County Council is committed to providing an efficient and courteous service to all our customers”.
Note Please: All answers to the 3 questions above, by August 27th, must be sent in written format by email, which you already have. All answers will be published.
We find Tipperary County Councils staff and their officials actions; in their failure to answer questions, similar to the errors made recently by Mr Michael Cawley (Fáilte Ireland – holidaying abroad); Mr Dara Calleary and Mr Jerry Buttimer’s behaviour of last Wednesday night; latter who believed there was one law for them and another law for the great unwashed – their electorate. Those who participate in decision making, same likely to impact local people, must maintain a duty to follow the regulations laid down by government.
I took a walk along the “Double Ditch” this afternoon, no effort by Tipperary County Council to resolve fly-tipping has been undertaken whatsoever, despite our request of October 2019. Dumping however, has increased and trees have been cut down, removed possible for firewood.
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