THERE was some confusion at last Monday’s meeting of Wicklow Municipal District over who organised the meeting on the one-way system in Wicklow town, which took place in December.
llr John Snell raised the matter and wondered if any of his fellow elected members attended or knew of the meeting.
“Supposedly a meeting was held in December and I don’t have the answer over who organised it. It’s hard to deal with all the different bodies involved in the one-way system, from the Town Team, Chamber of Commerce, traders, the Municipal District and engineers. It was brought to may attention that traders had a meeting in December. I was asked if I was going but I said I knew nothing of it. It supposedly took place up in Dunbur,” said Cllr Snell.
Cllr Gail Dunne, the Cathaoirleach of Wicklow Municipal District, said he heard about the meeting but hadn’t attended and knew nothing about it.
“Why would you go to a meeting in the middle of a pandemic anyway?” asked Cllr Dunne.
Cllr Shay Cullen also said he wasn’t aware of any such meeting.
District Administrator Joan Sinnott said the meeting in question was organised by traders and retailers, and their concerns were fed back to Wicklow Municipal District and all the issues raised were addressed.
However, Cllr Snell had heard a political organisation may have organised the meeting.
He further commented: “Could we find out what the findings of the meeting are? Did they raise concerns that not all retailers were members of the chamber?
“I’m pretty sure not everyone was contacted so who are they representing? I found it very baffling that it was a public meeting without the public knowing abut it.
“I don’t know if the individual who organised it is a trader. Others have said it was a political organisation who arranged it. It’s strange that we don’t even know who they are.”
Cllr Mary Kavanagh said: “It would be nice to know what came out of that meeting. You have the Chamber of Commerce, the Town Team, this organisation, whoever they are, and us as public representatives, all feeding in on the one issue. It would be nice to know to see if we are overlapping.”
Cllr Paul O’Brien stated that he only found out about the meeting the day after it had been held.
“It was noting to do with me or the Labour party so I think we can take the political element out of it. If it was someone here then they would have attended or known about it. If people want to meet up then that’s fair enough. ”
Cllr Snell replied: “There are a hell of a lot more political organisations out there than are sitting at this table. My belief is that the wording for the meeting was very derogatory toward the Municipal District. If Cllr O’Brien feels that is fine, then that’s his prerogative.”
Cllr O’Brien, in response, said he always stood up against derogatory comments aimed at people, and reiterated that the meeting in question wasn’t organised by the Labour Party.
“The world doesn’t revolve around the Labour Party. Any opportunity Cllr O’Brien gets he mentions the Labour Party.
"There are more political organisations out there than are represented on this forum,” commented Cllr Snell.
