Printed Minutes 10Th-Nov-2008 17.00 County Council.Pdf
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DÚN LAOGHAIRE-RATHDOWN COUNTY COUNCIL Minutes of the County Council held in the Council Chamber, County Hall, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin on Monday, 10 November 2008 at 5.00 pm PRESENT Bailey, John F Hand, Pat Bailey, Maria Holohan, R. Baker, Marie Horkan, Gerry Bhreathnach, Niamh Joyce, Tom Byrne, J. Kivlehan, T. Conway, B. Marren, Donal Cosgrave, L. Matthews, T. Crowe, G. McCarthy, Lettie Culhane, Aidan Mitchell O'Connor, Mary Devlin, Cormac O'Callaghan, Denis Dillon Byrne, Jane O'Higgins, T. Fallon, C. O'Keeffe, Gearoid Feighery, G. O'Leary, Jim Fox, Tony Smyth, Carrie Apologies for inability to attend were received for Councillor An Cathaoirleach, Councillor Denis O'Callaghan presided. OFFICIALS PRESENT Owen Keegan (County Manager), Kathleen Holohan (Deputy Manager), Tom McHugh (Director of Transportation), Frank Austin (Director of Water & Waste Services), Mary Mallon (Director of Services), Tom Loftus (Director of Services Transportation), Charles Mac Namara (Director of Housing), Michael Hogan (Head of Finance), Richard Cremins (Senior Planner), John Broderick (Senior Executive Engineer Transportation), Maura Murphy (Administrative Officer Corporate Services) and Pamela Graydon (Senior Staff Officer Corporate Services) C/513/08 Resolution pursuant to Section 140 of the Local Government Act, 2001 submitted by Councillors Gene Feighery, Tom Kivlehan and Ruairí Holohan "We the Members of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council pursuant to Section 140 of the Local Government Act 2001 hereby require and direct the County Manager to do as follows: • To provide the members of this Council with copies of the existing freehold, leasehold and any other assignments and maps from the department of the Marine on the lands containing the Dun Laoghaire Baths site and foreshore and to set out in detail the restrictions and encumbrances outlined therein. • To explain why limitations on these leases were not notified to this 1 Council when considering plans for the Dun Laoghaire Baths. • To provide to the members of this Council a full breakdown of the costs incurred as follows: • Consultants Fees; • Advertising; • Public Consultation.” The Manager indicated that a full reply to the questions raised in the motion had been circulated to all Members. An Cathaoirleach, Councillor T. Joyce RULED that as the information sought in this Section 140 motion had been supplied in the report, the report of the Manager was NOTED , and the motion dealt with. C/514/08 Confirmation of Minutes Minutes of Meeting of County Council held on 13 October 2008 were CONSIDERED : It was proposed by Councillor L. Cosgrave, seconded by Councillor J. Dillon Byrne and RESOLVED : “That the minutes of County Council meeting held on 13 October 2008 be ADOPTED and APPROVED .” C/515/08 Vote of Condolence A vote of condolence was passed with the family of Former Councillor Paul Rowan, R.I.P. A vote of condolence was passed with the family of Mr. Thomas Craddock, R.I.P. A vote of condolence was passed with Mr. Jim King and family on the recent death of his daughter. A vote of condolence was passed with the family of Mr. Edward Gannon, R.I.P. A vote of condolence was passed with the family of Ms Maura Farrell, R.I.P. An Cathaoirleach, the Members, the Manager and staff observed one minutes silence. C/516/08 Suspension of Standing Orders It was proposed by Councillor J. F. Bailey and seconded by Councillors M. Bailey, L. Cosgrave, M. Baker, T. O’Higgins and M. Mitchell O’Connor: “To propose the suspension of standing orders on 10 November 2008 to discuss Budget 2009 and the effect on the residents of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.” It was AGREED to suspend standing orders at 7.15 p.m. to discuss the effect Budget 2009 will have on the residents of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. 2 C/517/08 Questions It was proposed by Councillor M. Bailey, seconded by Councillor C. Smyth: “That pursuant to Standing Order No. 110 question numbers A.1 to A.17 inclusive be ADOPTED and APPROVED .” C/518/08 Temporarily Turning Off the Water Supply Question: Councillor J. Bailey "To ask the Manager to review the procedure for notification to households when the Council intends temporarily turning off the water supply. Specifically the Manager should consider using the media to provide notification of such action?" Reply: “The current system of notification of households has been established after many years of experience. A leaflet drop to customers in the affected area a few days before the proposed shut-down of water supply has achieved best results. In the event that a leaflet drop is not practicable and an exceptionally large number of customers will be affected, both print and radio media are used to inform the public.” C/519/08 Higher Level Education Grants Question: Councillor J. Bailey "To ask the Manager to outline: 1. How many applicants were granted a Higher Level Education Grant by this Council this year, 2008; 2. How many applicants were granted a Higher Level Education Grant by the Council last year 2007; 3. Will there be any delay in paying out these grants this year, 2008?" Reply: “1. To date under the 2008/2009 Higher Education Grants Scheme the Council has paid 323 grants; 2. A total of 952 students recieved grants under the 2007/2008 Scheme; 3. It is not foreseen that there will be any undue delay on the part of the Council in paying out grants.” C/520/08 Waste Collection Charges Question: Councillor J. Bailey "To ask the Manager to outline (a) How many householders have paid their waste collection charges for years 2005, 2006 & 2007; (b) How many householders have not yet paid these charges for years 2005, 2006 & 2007; (c) How do these figure compare to the figures of 2002, 2003 & 2004; (d) How many waivers were issued in all of the above years?" 3 Reply: “(a) The published National Service Indicator Rev. 4 for 2005, 2006 and 2007 records the proportion of households, where refuse charges were paid in full to the local authority by year end or were waived during the year in question. Partial payments for each year have not been included. Households that have paid their charges or have been waived charges at any stage since the year-end are not included in the statistics below. Rev. 4 % Paying Refuse Charges at year-end Year Number a/c’s Paid in full or waived % 2005 22,070 * 34.49% 2006 12,996** 19.86% 2007 6,766** 15.1% Prior to 2005 householders were invoiced for a flat charge early in the year and many paid up front. From 2005 the Council commenced charging on a pay-by-weight basis, where householders are issued statements, based on standing charges, weights and lifts, in arrears unlike the previous system of issuing invoices early in the year for payment of a flat charge or a tag system, which operates in many local authorities, where householders pay up front for tags. Obviously, as we bill in arrears, the final statements from 2005 onwards issued the subsequent year. Again this amount, while due for the year, is not due in the year. As a result people paying their charges on the basis of statements are most unlikely to pay all the charges due for the year by year-end. *2005 saw the introduction of pay-by-weight. and many householders paid a flat charge up front. Many of these were in credit at 31/12/05 even after factoring in the final statement. But the % for 2005 was down dramatically on 2004. **The % for 2006 and subsequent years is significantly reduced, as it is highly unlikely that any householder has a credit on their account to match the final statement. In 2007, there was a reduction in the number of households availing of the Council’s service as a result of private service providers entering into the market in DLR. (b) Number not Paying Refuse Charges at year-end is as follows: Year Number a/c’s 2005 21,557 2006 23,841 2007 15,146 Households that have paid their charges or have their charges waived at any stage since the year-end are not accounted for in the above statistics. In 2007, the overall number of accounts was reduced as a result of alternative service providers entering into the market in DLR. (c) Number Paying Refuse Charges at year-end Year No. A/C’s Paid in full or waived % 4 2002 34,140 52.73% 2003 35,803 55.3% 2004 38,372 59.83% Households that have paid their charges or have their charges waived at any stage since the year-end are not accounted for in the above statistics. (d) Waivers at year- end Waiver 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 statistics Total 5,313 5,337 4,777 6,031 2,605 N/A Processed Granted 4,097 4,266 4,103 5,037 1,773 2,890 Refused 1,216 1,071 674 994 832 N/A Households that have been waived charges at any stage since the year-end are not included in the above statistics. It is estimated that up to 25% of households availing of the Council’s household waste service may be eligible for a waiver under the Council’s scheme. However it is not possible to quantify the number of households who would qualify, as the Council is not aware of the applicants' income circumstances until they make their applications. The waiver schemes remain open for applications.” C/521/08 Council's Policy in Relation to the Regular Sweeping of Roads Question: Councillor M. Bailey "To ask the Manager to outline the Council's policy in relation to the regular sweeping of roads, particularly in residential estates and to provide a list of the estates which the Council regularly sweeps?" Reply: “The draft road sweeping schedules provide for towns and villages and some main routes to be swept on a daily or weekly basis depending on the level of usage.