Council merger will see increase in workforce

Job losses as a result of the planned amalgamation of Galway City and County Council have been ruled out.

Meanwhile, the cost of fitting out a new Council chamber capable of hosting a larger authority with up to 60 city and county councillors has been described as “outrageous”.

Chief Executive of Galway County Council, Kevin Kelly, said the new Greater Galway Authority would require more staff, not less, if and when the two local authorities merge.

Mr Kelly said all vacancies in the County Council that need to be filled are being filled.

Currently the ratio of staff in the County Council is 4.2 workers per 1,000 people. Whether amalgamation occurs or not, that ratio needs to be brought to between 5.5 and 7.3 workers per 1,000 population in order to bring the Council in line with other local authorities. “That’s a significant increase in the workforce to provide a level of service to the people,” he said.

During the meeting, Cllr Karey McHugh (Ind) pointed out that when Galway County Council spent €500,000 fitting out its new Council chamber at County Hall in 2014, to accommodate additional councillors, they were told by management that it would ‘last for a generation’.

But under a merged Council, the number of seats needed would go from 39 to 57 initially, and more alterations would have to be made to the chamber, which Cllr McHugh said was “absolutely ridiculous”. They had a duty to taxpayers not to waste money like this, she said.

Cllr Jim Cuddy (Ind) questioned why the two chief executives of Galway City and County Council, Mr Kelly and his counterpart Brendan McGrath, bothered to consult with elected members about the amalgamation because they “completely ignored” their views.

Cllr Cuddy said the general public doesn’t want a merger, and never asked for one. He mentioned Cork, where elected members threatened legal action against amalgamation and something similar could happen here in Galway. He also suggested that Tánaiste Simon Coveney was responsible for the Cork City and County Council merger being abandoned.

Michael Connolly (FF) said a merger will be detrimental to people living on the periphery of the county and rural areas because all of the decisions will be made by politicians elected to represent the larger centres of population in and around the city, Oranmore, Barna and Moycullen. He reckoned it wasn’t yet a ‘done deal’, however.

Cllr Eileen Mannion (FG) said there was a need for clarity on the issue and there was far too much uncertainty with the amalgamation and the recent electoral boundary redraw.