Politics « Thurles Information

Excuses By Tipp Co. Council’s Chief Executive & Thurles District Administrator.

For the benefit of Ms Sharon Scully (Thurles Municipal District Administrator), may we confirm that the blocked drain outside of McCabes Pharmacy, on Kickham Street, Thurles, has caused major flooding yet again today, (see image hereunder), photographed also today, May 11th, 2023.

May we also confirm that the blocked drain featured in the same picture hereunder, can be found east of the Pallottine College entrance, on Kickham Street, Thurles. Same has been blocked since we contacted you on February 20th, 2022. For confirmation see picture No 2. [bottom left HERE ].

**Kickham Street, Thurles Co. Tipperary.**

There are only 3 drain ports positioned on the lower south side of Kickham Street, two of which are blocked, with the water cascading like a river down the northside of the street, courtesy of the inefficiency of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). Hereunder, see Video which was also communicated to local councillors and officials on Feb.13th 2022.

If you need further proof of the inefficiency of your office, see video hereunder, first published Feb.12th 2022:-

Dear Readers; at the request of Ms Sharon Scully, (Thurles Municipal District Administrator) the communication addressed to both Ms Scully and Mr Joe MacGrath (Chief Executive, Tipperary Co. Co.) on Sun, 7th May is printed in full hereunder.

George Willoughby to Ms Sharon Scully (Thurles Municipal District Administrator) and Mr Joe MacGrath (Chief Executive, Tipperary Co. Co.) Sun, 7 May, 22:47

“Please see attached video of flooding on Cathedral Street, Thurles, which took place on Saturday last, May 6th.
Water flowed from No.12 Kickham Street unto Cathedral Street, with shores blocked at McCabes Pharmacy, Kickham Street, for the last 8 weeks, and at ‘The Source’ and Ursuline Convent, on Cathedral Street, for at least 4 weeks.

Please see a photograph of the damage caused to a drain outside the Ursuline convent front door, where work was recently undertaken by ‘Tar Stone’ has been fully lifted up by a water surge. See damage to roadway, same being further evidence of the sheer neglect of our town of Thurles.

Please also see the link; http://www.thurles.info/2023/05/06/wellingtons-necessary-when-traversing-newly-upgraded-e650000-bowes-corner/ .

Note up to 7:00pm today, flooding on pavement at Bowe’s corner has not subsided.

I will be highlighting further evidence of the neglect of Thurles, and continued money wasting, HERE this week, happening under both your watches and that of your “Executive Engineers”.

Signed: George Willoughby.

Wed, 10 May, 16:44 Ms Sharon Scully, to me

Dear Mr. Willoughby,

Thanks for your email below.
I can advise the following –

[A] The first photo is an Uisce Eireann excavation which is not the responsibility of Tipperary County Council. Please send a location associated with the photo so we could ensure it is communicated to Uisce Eireann for follow up.

[B] Picture number two would be normal after a flood event, whereby there is an accumulation on the gully from indiscriminate littering. It should be noted that there is regular street cleaning of footpaths and roads in Thurles town. Please send a location associated with the photo so we could ensure that it is presently clear.

[C] It would appear that picture number three is the same as picture number one Cathedral Street Video – all gullies in the town are on a rotation list for cleaning. However the network is susceptible to flash flooding of this nature. Locations as listed below will be examined.

[D] With regard to the video published on the Thurles Info website in relation to Bowes Corner – The contractor has not yet fully completed works to bring the gullies at the commencement of ramps up to surface level – these works will be completed in the coming weeks. In addition, at the aco-drain there was a temporary blockage to prevent excess grout from paving works entering the combined network – this has since being removed.

[E] Please confirm that you will publish the response of Tipperary County Council on the same website which published the video above to ensure that a full picture is conveyed.

Regards, Sharon.

George Willoughby, Wed, 10 May, 22:12 to Ms Sharon Scully (Thurles Municipal District Administrator) and Mr Joe MacGrath (Chief Executive, Tipperary Co. Co.)

Ms Scully,
Thank you for your reply to our email of May 7th 2023 instant at 22:55:

Note your reply will be published on all media outlets, used by Thurles.Info, as requested by you and in keeping with Mr MacGrath’s wishes, and as published HERE on April 20th last. We do this although our recent email correspondence to you both was not published publicly.
So in the interests of real openness and full transparency, it becomes necessary for us to publish all communications emanating both from Tipperary Co. Council; Thurles Municipal District Council and Thurles.Info, thus keeping our large readership up-to-date and fully informed as to what is transacted partially in secret.

Please now also let my readers & me have your thoughts regarding other issues shown via the following 3 links:-

[1] http://www.thurles.info/2023/04/22/possible-bus-shelter-for-thurles/.
What was the total cost of the full installation of the new carparks traffic barrier system including shelters, and CCTV cameras, same referred to as ‘Checkpoint Charlie’- and was there any money refunded following its hasty removal.

[2] http://www.thurles.info/2023/05/10/kickham-street-thurles-co-tipperary-saga-part-i/#comment-82959
When will repairs be undertaken on Kickham Street. Note: According to Councillor Ryan, (Littleton) same is due for reconstruction in September 2023.

[3] http://www.thurles.info/2023/05/07/thurles-taxpayers-tolerate-tipperary-co-councils-continuous-waste-of-finances/

Yours sincerely,
George Willoughby.

With regard to the four excuses and one request offered by Ms Scully above, (same identified by lettering attached by us; namely letters A, B, C, D & E,) we reserve the right to reply.

(A) The Uisce Eireann excavation is not an Uisce Eireann excavation, however if I am wrong; note that Tipperary Co. Council retains responsibility for Irish Water (Uisce Eireann) and queries continue to be accepted by the Water Services Section of the Tipperary Co. Council. So what is the issue in fixing the problem? Do they answer their phones?

(B) It is well noted that there is regular street cleaning of footpaths and roads in Thurles town, using a recently purchased mechanical street sweeper. Please give us a hint as to how this machine sweeps under parked cars, in order to reach ‘indiscriminate littering‘? It only has two brushes and no suction tube and is useful for gathering gravel every morning on Kickham Street.

(C) All three pictures sent refer to where flooding occurred- Cathedral Street. Note: I am not here to do the work of Thurles Municipal Council, you have paid employees to undertake such work. Quote by you “It would appear that all gullies in the town are on a rotation list for cleaning”.
Please explain why on the Mill Road, a short Distance from Councillor Mr Jim Ryan’s home, 3 blocked drains exist outside the new housing estate, all within the Thurles Municipal District boundary, same reported to you in Feb. 2022; leaving flood water to flow south down the Mill Road.
See Picture hereunder.

**Blocked Drains on Mill Road confirmed in Feb. 2022 and photographed today, 11th May 2023, still blocked.**

(C) No video was published by Thurles.Info relating to Bowe’s Corner. We did publish a picture of a blocked Aco-Drain. The surface here will not be lifted, if it is the Aco-Drain would not be needed as water would leach unto the roadway and into drains close by. The very existence of an Aco-Drain, demands a slight dip in the surrounding area to direct water. Perhaps the Aco-Drain is a bit central for those walking with high-heels, but this is the fault of the engineer’s drawings.
Any person who claims that the ‘temporary blockage‘ was to prevent excess grout (cement), from the paving works, entering the ‘combined network’, is a person who thinks you, Ms Scully, are easily fooled and I, George Willoughby, am an intellectually disabled individual. The ‘combined network’ on Friar Street has flooded at least once every year since I arrived in Thurles, some 45 years ago, as local businesses will attest.
The people (employees) who worked on that upgrade at Bowe’s Corner are extremely, highly skilled, unlike the consultants and engineers responsible for its overall design, and the elected councillors who publically came out and supported same officials.

The link to this post has been forwarded to Ms Sharon Scully (Thurles Municipal District Administrator) and Mr Joe MacGrath (Chief Executive, Tipperary Co. Co.) at their request.

The Kickham Street, Part 2 Saga will be published tomorrow.

Kickham Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary Saga Part I.

On July 26th, 2021 we highlighted issues on Kickham Street, describing it as “The Venice Of Tipperary”. See HERE

For at least the past ten weeks of 2023, an area outside McCabes Pharmacy, on Kickham Street, has been flooded, caused by a blocked drain. During heavy rain, water flows down Kickham Street, (as above video showed) with its first port of call the blocked drain outside the above named premises.

Yesterday, despite the area becoming severely flooded on Saturday last, the drain was ignored by those responsible for having it cleared, namely officials at Thurles Municipal Council.
See picture hereunder.

“In all the pools are velvet skies, and down the dazzling street
A fairy city gleams and lies in beauty at my feet.” ― Extract from the poem **‘Rainy Nights’** by Irene Thompson.
*Pic: G. Willoughby.*

With no rain yesterday, the water leached away for the first time in a 10 week period, leaving accumulated muck and other filth in its wake. See picture hereunder. Next rain that falls; it will fill up, to flood this area once again.

**Muck and Filth.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby*.

Thurles Ignored:

It’s a similar story everywhere in Thurles, latter a town boasting two elected, salaried, TD’s and nine highly paid local Municipal District councillors; all it would appear tone deaf, when it comes to listening to the wishes of their electorate.

Let us take just one example to justify our claim.

On December 6th 2022 last, we drew attention to the destruction of pedestrian crossing lights, left ignored; situated on Parnell Street, same 20 meters from the office door of Fianna Fáil TD Mr Jackie Cahill. View HERE.

All of this destruction was, and is, being caused by high sided vehicles forced to mount footpaths, while attempting to pass each other on narrow strips of roadway, no longer fit for purpose. All of these issues are being supported by poor, below standard planning within Tipperary Co. Council’s engineering department and the same situation is signed off on, to take place again shortly on Slievenamon road (N62) in the town.

**“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a** ~~rich person~~ **lorry driver to enter the** ~~Kingdom of God~~ **town of Thurles”**. *[ Sincere apologies to St. Matthew.]*

Now four months later this same pedestrian crossing lighting; 20 meters from Mr Cahill’s office, on Parnell Street, Thurles, has over the past 4 weeks, been once again struck by a high sided vehicle and left damaged while facing the Thurles Credit Union building.

Further evidence and proof of the large sums of money having been already wasted through poor engineering ability, can be viewed HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and most recently HERE.

Details of last Saturday’s flooding have been sent to Ms Sharon Scully (Thurles Municipal District Administrator) and Mr Joe MacGrath (Chief Executive Tipperary Co. Council).

Bee Friendly Flowers For Liberty Square, Thurles.

“The Town Centre First policy aims to create town centres that function as viable, vibrant and attractive locations for people to live, work and visit, while also functioning as the service, social, cultural and recreational hub for the local community.” – Quote taken from Tipperary Co. Council’s commitment.

Without warning, they struck early this morning. Up came the long ago deceased ‘Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’. Having tossed a coin, left behind was the still barely surviving small group of rather delicate frail and confused, low-maintenance ‘Potentilla Dasiphora fruticosa ‘White Lady‘; the latter well-known for being resistant to attacks by rabbits in rural areas. (Very important to a rural town like Thurles with a large rabbit population).

Yes, I am talking about that large piece of wasteland, (some in their innocence may have called it a flowerbed), located centre on Liberty Square, Thurles, which for well over a year, has replaced some 20 car-parking spaces, thus driving consumers out of the town centre, to surrender their purchasing power to well-known German supermarket chains.

Here at Thurles.Info we decided, (following on in true Tipperary Co. Council fashion), to employ a landscape consultant and I might add not just any English fly-by-night consultancy.
Regardless of expense we sought the services of that long established landscape consultancy firm of ‘Root In The Hole Ltd,’ ©.

In the interests of fair play they decided to invite the local Thurles community, asking them to submit what they would like to see planted on this waste ground and in keeping with Tipperary Co. Council tradition, those who forwarded submissions were ignored on the basis that elected Co. Councillors and their Council Officials know best.

After the area was surveyed by two top gardening experts, employed by ‘Root In The Hole Ltd’©, same forwarded their findings/recommendations in the form of photographic evidence, shown in the video above.
In Root In The Hole’s report, which we won’t be publishing for fear of embarrassing certain individuals. Suffice is to say; sentences containing text like “Worst landscaping ever observed to date”, appear at least 6 times in the report, and a concluding phrase suggests that the ‘Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’, at the very least may have been recovered, having been first dumped from a garden centre, on waste ground, before being planted in Liberty Square.

Then again I suppose we could always cement this piece of waste ground over completely and paint a bird on it.

Readers might wonder about the reference to the 18th century weighing scales in our video; same located today in Co. Galway.
This same weighing scales type, which also was used on Liberty Square, sitting on a quadropod, during this same historical period, has now been located and can be made available to Thurles Municipal District Council.
Same could be erected in the centre of this flower bed, to remind us and any lost foreign tourist, of our humble beginnings when, prior to our Liberty Square down-grading, we had a once busy flourishing town centre.

Public Consultation On Recommendations Of Firearms Expert Committee Launched.

Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Mr James Browne TD, established the Firearms Expert Committee (FEC) on a non-statutory basis, in June of 2022.

The FEC included representation from stakeholders, the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána. The purpose of the FEC was to serve in an advisory capacity to Minister Browne, providing guidance on a wide range of matters related to firearms licensing within the Irish State.

The FEC held nine in-person Committee meetings over a period of nine months.

The final reports of the FEC were published on the 31st March 2023. The reports, along with the summaries and minutes of the FEC’s meetings are available HERE.

These FEC reports contain recommendations to the Minister on a wide range of firearms matters, in line with its comprehensive terms of reference. Minister Browne has stated throughout the FEC process that no changes to policy or legislation arising from any of the recommendations of the FEC will be implemented without prior consultation with stakeholders.

With this aim, Minister Browne has now launched an online consultation platform. This will allow stakeholders to indicate their level of support for all of the substantive recommendations of the FEC. This consultation platform is available HERE.

In addition to the online consultation platform Minister Browne will invite national representative organisations to make open submissions to him on behalf of their membership.

Minister Browne would encourage as many people and organisations as possible to participate in the online consultation, so that everyone with an interest in these important matters can have their voices heard. The online consultation will close on Friday June 2nd 2023.

Possible Bus Shelter For Thurles

Readers will be aware and will forgive my rhetorical figure of speech when I state that “Checkpoint Charlie”, also known as the entrance to the Slievenamon Road Car Park in Thurles, has been eradicated some weeks ago, with the whole “Lock, stock, and broken barriers” now vanished into history.

Who destroyed the 2 year old badly pointed limestone wall close by, [See top middle of Picture 1 below and also the picture inset], remains yet another mystery.

We had forecast the demise of “Checkpoint Charlie”, (Same an effort to save the wage of one Traffic Warden), if you remember, in early October last 2022, [View HERE].
The overall costings involved in the installation of “Checkpoint Charlie” was initially, we understand €95,000 plus. What it cost to remove less than 6 months after its was put into operation, and its current ‘scrap value’, now remains a closely guarded secret; known only to those we elected.

**Picture No.1. “Checkpoint Charlie”, with demolished wall inset.**
*Pic: George Willoughby*.

However, there may be just one overall small saving grace in all of this waste of taxpayer’s money; which is unlikely to save the blushing faces of local councillors, their officials and Tipperary Co. Council.

See picture No.2. hereunder, note that I am referring to the two, now vacant, Plexiglas Perspex Acrylic coated parking ticket shelters.

**Picture No.2. Shown here, one of two Perspex coated ticket shelters now vacant.**
*Pic: George Willoughby*

Here is a chance to create a ‘TFI Local Link’ bus stop between Thurles Shopping Centre and Lidl Supermarket, latter which is now, thanks to the total incompetence of Tipperary Co. Council officials, the newly created centre of Thurles town.
These two vacant Perspex coated ticket shelters would make for an excellent ready-made bus stop shelter for the loading and offloading of bus passengers, were a bus stop area to be carved into the existing grass coated island, southeast of the town.

Here earthen sods would be easily available to ‘turn’ by either Mr M. Lowry TD or Mr J. Cahill TD, enabling them to officially open the bus shelter on its completion; giving the false impression that either or both were helping to bring prosperity to their native town of Thurles.