Cllr hits back at online Prime Time comments
The Centre was the recent subject of a Prime Time investigation.
A Mayo councillor who has been vocal in his criticism of the Mary Robinson Centre in Ballina has hit back at online detractors. Westport-based Fine Gael Cllr Peter Flynn appeared on RTÉ's last week.
“Life certainly hasn’t been dull since appearing on RTÉ’s . As expected, some agree with me, other don’t and that is fine, however, some of the personally directed comments via social media were unpleasant, untrue and unwarranted.
“A member of the team contacted me about my concerns in relation to the funding of the building and asked me to meet them in Ballina. As a public representative, I believe one our key roles is to act in the public interest and ensure that all money generated across the county through rates and property tax is spent in the best way possible. In my opinion it would have been a dereliction of duty if I did not assist with RTÉ’s investigation,” said Cllr Flynn in a social media post.
“To date, Mayo Co Council has spent over €3 million of central funds on the building and is owed €800,000 from a foundation that on the face of it from their accounts has no capacity to pay the money. As a Mayo county councillor I will continue to question every significant project undertaken in any part of Mayo to ensure we are investing in projects that will deliver the best return to the overall county,” he added.
Cllr Flynn also responded to ‘refugee’ comments made in the show.
“At no point did my Westport council colleagues or I ever suggest that we relocate refugees from Westport. Last month we passed a resolution requesting that the Quay Community Centre be returned to the community and critically that the kitchen/dining room be made available as a temporary facility for the vital Meals on Wheels service while the Social Services building is being demolished and rebuilt. The Director of Services in Ballina has blocked this request saying that the council needed the building as a transitional refugee centre. I suggested that a better solution was to make the vacant Mary Robinson Centre, which is beside his workplace, be made available as an alternative transitional refugee centre if it was an absolute necessity.”
