You Know When You’ve Been Quangoed

Boom!

atest press release from Cllr Tom Fortune, issued on Wednesday, October 20th 2021…

Speaking at a special meeting of Greystones Municipal District which he called to discuss what he describes as another step in the undermining of democratically elected councillors, Cllr Tom Fortune says that it is a red flag time for accountable local democracy.

What was before the meeting were two legal documents which Cllr Fortune requested be discussed by the municipal district councillors as they had not been brought to the members’ attention. He says this is another imposition on the role of a councillor. Over recent years, housing, planning, waste management, water and sewage, roads, CDP and GDPR have been used to avoid answering questions. “I am certain it was never meant to do this,” says Fortune. “Role on Joint Policing Committees is the next area to be restricted to us. However the legal entities been rolled out by the executive of the local authorities is red flag time and councillors at large appear not to be aware of it.

“Councillors in Dublin, Kildare, Meath , Clare have spoken with me on their concerns. It is a common view that the local authorities are the coordinators of what is happening.

“Myself and Cllr Mags Crean recently held an online event on related matters. We had 49 people attend including six Senators. Our guest speaker was Prof Mary Murphy from Maynooth University.”

Cllr Fortune says the meeting last night is the first step in what he describes as protecting proper oversight. “The next step is to bring it to the County Council and after that to Councillors, TDs and Senators nationally.”

At the meeting last night Cllr Fortune raised questions around the legal documents, both the Memorandum of Association and the Articles of Association. He said that we need to have them fully reviewed for by an independent barrister. He stated that the intro language is vague. They lack defined scoop. They are duplicitous (deceptive in words). He also remarked that no KPIs are known.

“We as democratically elected councillors should have in the first instance had oversight of all this before this undemocratic process ever left the station,” he stated. “A parallel structure is proposed to run with the democratically elected councillors, and this raises serious oversight issues. It is a road that we should not be going down. It is changing the public realm. It may involve very large public funds.”

Cllr Fortune continued, “I would love to trust what is happening but I cannot. Really what is happening is the set up of quangos to leverage public money; it is not linked to municipal district members. It has not appeared on any of our agendas until I requested this special meeting. I do not believe that an entity of this construct is required; it has never been required.

“We need a full fact-check on every aspect of what is happening, including the real agenda in undermining democratically-elected councillors.

Arklow

Cllr Fortune says he wonders on a number of questions. 1. Insurance 2. Arklow , Wicklow, Bray – what is the plans for these towns? 3. Governance; no clue as to who holds full governance. 4. How can you turn a town into a limited company? 5. If town gets into debt, does the bank then own the town? 6. Do the proposed directors intend to stand for local elections- if not, why not?

Laundry Day at Greystones MD

Cllr Fortune says there seems to be a strategically-driven growing disconnect towards councillors. “We are been excluded at a progressive level. At an EMRA meeting in the summer, the chair remarked that at a recent gathering representing the members, she did not feel involved at the meeting.”

In summing up Cllr Fortune, said “ It is like a plan from an old western movie, where someone or a group take over the town and take control of the railroad or the land itself.”

Cllr Fortune finishes by saying, “I have great difficulty trusting what is happening. Democracy may have its flaws but we will only miss it when it is gone.”