Council committees to include trade union representatives

Mayo County Council has agreed to include trade union representatives on its Strategic Policy Committees (SPCs).

The SPCs advise and assist in the formulation, development and review of policy.

Currently, the council is approving the membership of its six SPCs relating to everything from roads and transportation to tourism and agriculture.

Cllr Michael Kilcoyne proposed that the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) be allowed to have representation on the SPCs, particularly in light of the fact that there were vacancies to fill and the council’s Public Private Partnership (PPN) was unable to provide candidates to fill the roles.

During a lengthy discussion on the proposal, Cllr Peter Flynn said he was struggling to see why ICTU would have an interest in the strategic policies, such as on roads and the environment.

Cllr Kilcoyne contended: “It’s working people that build the roads so, of course, they would be concerned.” 

Cllr Gerry Murray said if people are passionate and want to become engaged in SPCs they should be encouraged and that there should be broad trade union representation as that would help formulate sustainable policy. 

“That is what democracy is all about and I think they can bring a lot of valuable insights,” he said.

Cllr Patsy )'Brien also supported the proposal.

“We depend solely on the voluntary sector for so much and if we didn’t have that our county would be a lot worse, so the maximum amount of people should be appointed.” 

Cllr Paul Lawless said many unions are eager to be involved and should be included to support local democracy.

Cllr Damian Ryan proposed the PPN be given another month to furnish nominations for the vacancies and also said SPCs should be providing written reports once set up.

Cllr Michael Loftus said with the last SPCs he was involved with, he was immensely disappointed by the lack of involvement from some people on the committee. He also queried the progress on setting up the Local Community Safety Partnership, which is to replace the former Joint Policing Committee.

Cllr Michael Kilcoyne said the minutes from all the SPCs were there for all to see and members who did not turn up for a quota of meetings could be removed.

Senior executive officer Martina Hughes clarified that there were four vacant seats that the PPN could not fill out of seven nominations offered.

Cllr Blackie Gavin suggested that the four available positions be given to ICTU and this was agreed.

Council management also revealed that there have been five nominations for the chair of the new group being set up to replace the Joint Policing Committee with interviews to take place next month.