De Facto and the facts

I would like to reply to the points raised by columnist Liamy MacNally in last week's Mayo News in his De Facto piece entitled "Lights, Camera, Action".

Mr MacNally refers to the news that last year Westport's water contained eight times the recommended aluminium content and raises the issue over responsibility and the distribution of such information.

I can confirm for you that Westport Town Council is responsible for water supply to the town and under Better Local Government we pay Mayo County Council to run the service for us. Last month in the town's 2008 Budget we allotted the sum of nearly €300,000 for the public water supply.

With regard to the distribution of such information I can confirm I became aware of the issue of water quality through reading an article in the Irish Independent. At no stage was I contacted by either Westport Town Council or Mayo County Council to inform me of the situation and my subsequent query on the issue have been directed to a Mayo County Council Engineer (on the 6th February) but as of time of writing (13th February) I have received no reply.

I have been informed by Westport Town Council Management that the HSE has released a statement on the situation but I have not seen that statement published nor has it been sent to me.

With regard to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) it is unusual for the Dept of the Environment to instruct a town as small as Westport to carry out such an assessment and while I warmly welcome the move it does mean we have to re-set the start date for the drawing up of our Town Plan.

There is, to my knowledge, no statutory obligation for us to carry out the SEA and we are doing so as a result of an instruction of the Dept. In response to my questions at the meeting when this issue was first raised in late 2007 I was told that the SEA will cost approximately €20,000 to carry out and that the Westport Town Council must carry this cost. Nevertheless I think it will prove to be a valuable tool for both development and conservation and I welcome it.
With regard to Planning enforcement, councillors have no powers over planning at all. We have no input into either applications or enforcement. While we can zone lands we do not have a say in actual applications and thus any discussion of applications at council meetings is merely discussion.

With regard to the issue of the "phantom" CCTV cameras which were erected around the town I can confirm that again councillors were not informed about them. I do know that the erection of such cameras in such a manner is contrary to the Data Protection Acts and to good government. Any and all such filming, even on a trial basis should be done in an open and informative way with the citizen and their councillors informed every step of the way. Following this episode I requested the minutes of the special Town Council committee that was established to look into CCTV proposals for the town only to be informed to request them from the Gardai. Why I would have to seek the minutes of a Town Council committee from the local Superindent is questionable.

Ultimately it is the weakening of the role and powers of local councillors which is at the root of the matter. At the recent special meeting of Westport Town Council on the issue of restoring power to councillors I proposed Directly Elected Mayors with executive powers as the solution to these problems. Cathaoirleach Cllr Declan Dever expressed his concerns that the council with a €5.5 million budget could not afford such a Mayor. In light of the above matters I ask can we afford NOT to have such a Mayor?