Problems getting staff holding up council schemes

Problems getting consultants and staff are holding up several schemes in Westmeath, members of the county council were told at their April meeting. Athlone Active Travel, provision of disabled toilets in the Athlone civic buildings and enforcement of planning conditions are most affected.

At the monthly meeting of the council, Cllr Frankie Keena said fantastic money was being put into Active Travel in Mullingar, but Athlone was “still at a low ebb”.

Barry Kehoe, director of services, explained that Active Travel in Athlone had been held up because of problems in appointing consultants. “That’s the way it is. We will make progress once we do appoint consultants, but it has been very slow getting them on board,” he said. He hopes to have a preliminary meeting with councillors in the next month or two regarding the routes for Athlone.

When Cllr Keena asked what was holding up the provision of facilities for the disabled at Athlone civic buildings, for which funding has been provided. Mr. Kehoe said that project involved complex design – it was not just a simple bathroom design.

He said that following consultation with disability groups in Athlone, the council were getting ready to appoint a contractor in a “short while”.

“We are not happy about the performance of the consultant who was preparing these documents for us and we are pushing as hard as we can on a week to week basis because we know there is a deadline associated with the grant funding,” Mr Kehoe said.

“We are committed and pushing as hard as we can to get it done, but we can’t get blood out of a stone.”

He assured the members that the delay was not for want of effort on the part of the staff in the civic centre.

On hearing that response, Cllr Keena said getting competent consultants seemed to be a serious problem and asked what “plan B” was.

The chief executive, Pat Gallagher, said there is a “vibrant market for consultants across the public and private sector”. Consultancies are finding it hard to keep up with the demand for their work because of a lot of public and private investment post-Covid and because a lot of professional people have emigrated, he added. Mr Gallagher said that when they get consultants, they work to get a suitable outcome as soon as possible to allow projects to move to the next stage.

In reply to Cllr John Dolan, Mr Kehoe agreed that the number of enforcement inspections was low (24 complaints received, four inspections carried out) because of difficulties getting staff. Additional staff have been approved, but it has proved impossible to get them, he said.

Mr Kehoe reported that the council held interviews for senior executive technicians and offered jobs to the three candidates that qualified, but only one took up the offer. The council are also holding interviews for planners and executive technicians. “It’s reflected across the whole public and private sector,” he said.

Mr Kehoe said inspections are being carried out on a priority basis, but the cases need to be pushed to enforcement and court action.