A decision to cancel meetings of Meath
County Council because of the Covid-19 crisis has come in for sharp criticism
from an independent councillor at a meeting of Navan Municipal District Council
today.
Early in the Covid crisis whips from the
various political groups on the council met to discuss the situation and came
to a decision to call off meetings. However, Cllr Alan Lawes said that while he
was glad to see the council reconvening, it was time for Meath County Council
to reflect on what had been done. He did not think it as right to “cancel
democracy” during the coronavirus crisis.
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| Cllr Alan Lawes |
He said that people needed to reflect on
why democracy had been suspended. It was a bad thing that the majority of the
councillors had not been consulted about the decision. As a public
representative he objected to this decision and also protested at the fact that
councillors were only told about the decision after it had been made. In the
middle of a health emergency such as Covid it eas even more important that
councillors could meet to discuss the needs of the people who had elected them.
It was something he did not want to see such a thing happening again, he said.
Fianna Fail Cllr Tommy Reilly congratulated
the council officials for their work during the pandemic and said that he had
had no problem accessing information that he needed. Aontu Cllr Emer Toibin
said that she felt councillors should have been consulted about the decision to
cancel the meetings.
Congratulating council staff on their work during the
pandemic, Cllr Padraig Fitzsimons said that perhaps there had been a difficulty
in communications. Cllr Yemi Adenuga said that some people did not know that
the meetings had been cancelled. She aid she would like to have had more
information about the cancellation. Council official Larry Whelan said that hew
would not accept that there had been any cancellation of democracy. The
decision had been made in accordance with strict guidelines and safety
measures.
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